nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

sagarnayakm — Fri, 05 May 2023 09:10:47 GMT

Hello,

Thanks for the useful information.

this is my last question Are there any other ways to send the sensor data from the nrf52832 dev kit to a Bluetooth-less desktop wirelessly.??

if yes I will raise a new ticket and share the case ID.

Thank You.

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Edvin — Fri, 05 May 2023 09:04:49 GMT

Hello,

I don't think any of these questions are related to the original question from this post. I can answer this one, but for follow ups, please create a new ticket. Feel free to link to this one for background information.

Actually, the FW that is flashed on the dongle by nRF Connect for Desktop -> Bluetooth LE is a modified version of the SDK\examples\connectivity\ble_connectivity. This is a proprietary serialization API that windows doesn't know about, so you will never be able to use it as a BLE dongle for the OS. But it is possible to use it for scripting, such as using a python application to send and receive the USB messages to start scanning, connecting and so on (the things that nRF Connect for Desktop does). However, we don't recommend this for production. It is a development tool, and it should only be used for testing. If you want to test it, you can search for pc-ble-driver. There is a .c variant and a python variant. This will be the application that communicates (UART or USB) with the dongle. You will find some information on how to set up and use it on the github repository for pc-ble-driver or pc-ble-driver-py. Just note that this is not something that we officially recommend, and it is a bit difficult to use.

If there is a particular BLE peripheral that you want to connect to, I suggest you rather write an application for the nRF that will scan for and connect to that particular device. Then you can enable notifications on whatever characteristic you need, and then forward that data to the UART/USB. Then you would need an application (python, for example) running on your computer that takes the data from the COM port, and saves it in a txt file, or prints it to a log, or whatever you want to do with it.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

sagarnayakm — Fri, 05 May 2023 04:31:49 GMT

[quote userid="26071" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/63445/nrf52840-dongle-windows-10-driver/423804"]It is not possible to use the nRF52840 dongle as a generic Bluetooth Dongle in Windows. Note that the nRF52840 only has Bluetooth Low Energy, and not Bluetooth Classic (what most audio over Bluetooth uses). Because it is lacking this, Windows will not accept it as a Bluetooth Dongle.[/quote]

So, you mean we need to use the nrf connect desktop application and Bluetooth low energy app to scan the peripheral devices right.? if so can we use the Peripheral to central example directly to connect the peripheral device? i tried ble_app_blinky and ble_app_blinky_c examples for LBS so I am sending button state data from ble_app_blinky(peripheral) to ble_app_blinky_c(Central) it's working fine.

And now I wanted to do for the nrf52832 dev kit to the nrf52840 dongle, yes as of now I can use the ble_app_blinky code for the peripheral to send the button state data to the nrf52840 dongle. but here when i try to flash the dongle from nrf connect desktop app it asks for the flashing, I gave yes and flashed the dongle. so now i want the source file of it because I example I have is usbd_cdc_acm which can send/receive the data. but it didn't act as a dongle like scanning the peripheral devices.

so please give me the source files of it or tell me if any comfortable examples are available in SDK.

[quote userid="26071" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/63445/nrf52840-dongle-windows-10-driver/423804"]Even if you have a normal Bluetooth Dongle, it will not out of the box dump that information into a notepad (I assume you mean a .txt document). You would have to write a desktop application that does this. [/quote]

ok, I got it, if it's possible to send the data to the terminal it's enough.

Thank You.

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Edvin — Thu, 04 May 2023 13:17:29 GMT

Hello,

Karl is out of office this week, so I will handle your question.

[quote user="sagarnayakm"]I have already raised a query and there is no proper response.[/quote]

I couldn't find your ticket. Do you have a link?

I understand what you want to do, but I have to disappoint you. It is not possible to use the nRF52840 dongle as a generic Bluetooth Dongle in Windows. Note that the nRF52840 only has Bluetooth Low Energy, and not Bluetooth Classic (what most audio over Bluetooth uses). Because it is lacking this, Windows will not accept it as a Bluetooth Dongle.

I have not tested this, but it is possible to use it as a Bluetooth dongle on Linux, but it will only work with BLE devices.

[quote user="sagarnayakm"]and also after connecting the peripheral device how can we send that data from the peripheral device to the dongle and print it in a notepad??[/quote]

Even if you have a normal Bluetooth Dongle, it will not out of the box dump that information into a notepad (I assume you mean a .txt document). You would have to write a desktop application that does this.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

sagarnayakm — Tue, 02 May 2023 06:17:45 GMT

Hello Karl,

I hope you doing well, actually, in my project, I want to use the nrf52840 dongle for a PC, that doesn't have inbuilt Bluetooth. so I have seen a lot of reference videos for the nrf52840 dongle and they used nrf connect desktop app so after flashing some bootloader code custom dongle board enters into open boot loader mode, then in Bluetooth low energy option asks for a program flash then I gave yes for flashing. now it acts as a dongle so I can scan peripheral devices and connect them. so without using nrf connect app can we do it as an inbuilt Bluetooth and scan it as we do in Windows 10 ??. if yes how do we do that? and also after connecting the peripheral device how can we send that data from the peripheral device to the dongle and print it in a notepad??. I have already raised a query and there is no proper response. I am working on it for 2 months but I couldn't complete it. please help me to resolve this.

Thank You.

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Karl Ylvisaker — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:29:18 GMT

Hello again Alex,

[quote user="GeronimoDelsys"]Thanks for getting back to me.[/quote]

No problem at all, I am happy to help!

[quote user="GeronimoDelsys"]Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to install the drivers on my machine. The pc-nrfconnect-launcher repo has an exe for downloading the drivers (build/drivers/nrfconnect-driver-installer.exe). I set up my installer to run that exe automatically, and it worked well! Thanks for the help![/quote]

I am glad to hear that you were able to resolve the issue, and that it is now functioning as expected. Great!

Please do not hesitate to open a new ticket on the forum if you should encounter any issues or questions in the future.

Good luck with your development!

Best regards,
Karl

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

GeronimoDelsys — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 13:06:50 GMT

HI Karl,

Thanks for getting back to me. I am using Windows 10, and step 4 in that link is for installing the driver with Windows 7. Fortunately, I was able to figure out how to install the drivers on my machine. The pc-nrfconnect-launcher repo has an exe for downloading the drivers (build/drivers/nrfconnect-driver-installer.exe). I set up my installer to run that exe automatically, and it worked well! Thanks for the help!

-Alex

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Karl Ylvisaker — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 12:45:13 GMT

Hello Alex,

Sorry for my late reply.

[quote user="GeronimoDelsys"]I noticed the Hu Lao's very detailed inquery was not properly answered in this thread, would anyone be able to update us on how to install the CDC ACM driver on a new windows 10 machine without downloading nRF Connect?[/quote]

Have you completed the 4th step of the Testing section of the USB CDC example from nRF5 SDK?
It explains how to install the CDC ACM driver on a new windows machine, without downloading nRF Connect.

Are you doing the exact procedure as shown by Lu Hao in the included videos? If so, I would like to mention that the driver installation clearly states that the installation failed.
Furthermore, I can not recommend to download the master branch of the github repositories - you should always, exclusively download tagged releases.

Looking forward to resolve this issue together!

Best regards,
Karl

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

GeronimoDelsys — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 19:39:05 GMT

Hello,

I am having this exact issue. I need a new Windows 10 environment (without nRF Connect downloaded) to recognize the connectivity dongle as nRF Connect USB CDC ACM. Right now if I plug in the dongle to this new environment, device manager shows the dongle as Other -> nrf52 connectivity and nothing on Ports (COM & LPT). I noticed the Hu Lao's very detailed inquery was not properly answered in this thread, would anyone be able to update us on how to install the CDC ACM driver on a new windows 10 machine without downloading nRF Connect? Thank you!

-Alex

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Karl Ylvisaker — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 14:30:28 GMT

Hello again,

I am terribly sorry for my late reply to this - I have been out of office for some time now.

[quote user="Hu Lao"]I tried to use the suggested driver but so far, the installation did not pass. [/quote]

By this, do you mean that updating the CDC ACM driver with the one supplied in SDK/examples/usb_drivers did not succeed?
If this is correct, how did it fail?

I see the issues you are experiencing in the VM's, but I also notice that you are downloading the master branch from the github.
Please always download a tagged release from the repositories, and not the master branch.

I was also under the impression that you would not like to download nRF Connect, but instead only wanted to include the CDC ACM driver in the deployment procedure - have I understood this correctly?

Again, I am terribly sorry for the long delay in answering.
I look forward to resolving this issue together!

Best regards,
Karl

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Hu Lao — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 08:22:18 GMT

Hi Karl,

I tried to use the suggested driver but so far, the installation did not pass.

Below two procedures:

1. Install suggested driver. Error during installation

2. Install nRF Connect.

The test was performed in fresh new Windows 10 device. For the testing report purposes, a virtual machine was used. In both machines (real and virtual) the procedure and results are similars.

The following video shows the installation of the usb cdc acm driver that is used in the nRF Connect Desktop application

The following video shows the installation of nRF Connect

As we could see from the results, Windows doesn't have the driver used by the Dongle.

Based on this procedure, please, may you clarify where the issue is?

Thanks

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Hu Lao — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 20:40:43 GMT

Hi Karl,

The deployment procedure (in my context) describes how to deploy the Software Application (that is using the Dongle) to a new machine. This include any third party tools, libraries or drivers required for the application. In this case, I didn't expect to have a driver installation for the USB CDC ACM device.

Thanks

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Karl Ylvisaker — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 09:00:33 GMT

[quote user="Hu Lao"]Thanks for your feedback. [/quote][quote user="Hu Lao"]Yes, I'm looking for the USB CDC ACM driver you refer. Thanks for the link.[/quote]

No problem at all, I am happy to hear that this was what you were looking for!

[quote user="Hu Lao"]The screenshot I shared in the previous post come from the workstation where the application is working. In the new machine, the driver assigned/listed was different. I didn't take a screenshot; I remember was a driver from Windows.[/quote]

I understand, thank you for clarifying.

[quote user="Hu Lao"]In other hand, I also expected the required driver came installed by default.[/quote]

Yes, as far as I know all windows > 7 computers comes with the usb cdc acm driver, strange indeed..

[quote user="Hu Lao"]I'm defining the deployment procedure and the results not match with the expectation, as you mentioned. Please, may I have if you have additional suggestions?[/quote]

Please elaborate on how the deployment procedure does not match your expectations.
If you would like to see the procedure for updating the windows driver, please see the "testing" section from the usbd cdc acm example documentation.

Best regards,
Karl

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Hu Lao — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 07:49:52 GMT

Hi Karl,

Thanks for your feedback.

Yes, I'm looking for the USB CDC ACM driver you refer. Thanks for the link.

The screenshot I shared in the previous post come from the workstation where the application is working. In the new machine, the driver assigned/listed was different. I didn't take a screenshot; I remember was a driver from Windows.

In other hand, I also expected the required driver came installed by default.

I'm defining the deployment procedure and the results not match with the expectation, as you mentioned. Please, may I have if you have additional suggestions?

Thanks,

RE: nRF52840 Dongle Windows 10 driver

Karl Ylvisaker — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 12:41:38 GMT

Hello,

If I understand you correctly, you might be looking for the usb cdc acm driver that is used in the nRF Connect Desktop application?
The driver is also located in the nRF5 SDK\examples\usb_drivers, thought this is version 1.0.0.0.
For all windows versions > 7 the cdc acm driver should be installed by default, and you should not need to install the driver manually.

The screenshot you provided, is this from the computer in which your application is working - or from the new computer in which it is not?

Best regards,
Karl