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Windows Doesn't recognize Your HackRF device? Wrong Drivers? Try ...

 Mostly for me to remember, but Windows at times has a lapse in judgement with certain devices, DIY gadgets, peripherals that you maybe trying to connect to- for me, it was my HackRF(I have since stumbled upon a better way to start for the HackF if having driver woes- which I will cover in another post- but keep reading, since this is still good knowledge to know regarding driver issues)- no matter what, my PC could not recognize the HackRF/ or would recognize it, but as a keyboard. I required Windows to apply the correct drivers to the device so that it could be recognized for what it is... a...SDR. A HackRF. 

Guessing What's Right... Making Assumptions. Getting it Wrong.

So, really what we see here is that when connecting that never connected before thing into your PC, Windows is making an assumption on what that thing is, and then applying the best driver that it thinks suites that thing...

From experience, and a general rule of life... "assumptions" aren't the best way of going about things... you may luck out here and there, but, overall you'll find yourself in the wrong. Needing to back track and to get the actual facts... General rule: Don't make assumptions.

Life lessons out of the way- Same goes here with Windows- it's attempted to apply the best driver, but, it just didn't get it right... it made an assumption, got it wrong, but, we need to get our device connected. We need to fix this...

The Program That'll Make Things Right.

That's where a program called Zadig comes into play. 

A fairly straight forward program to take Windows by the hand and guide it in the right direction- help it along. To get the right drivers for the device you are attempting to use-

From the Zadig site:

Zadig is a Windows application that installs generic USB drivers, such as WinUSB, libusb-win32/libusb0.sys or libusbK, to help you access USB devices.

It can be especially useful for cases where:

  • you want to access a device using a libusb-based application
  • you want to upgrade a generic USB driver
  • you want to access a device using WinUSB

A Fast "How To" Use Zadig to Re Install/ Update Drivers in Windows

(This is very high level and I strongly advise on seeking a more thorough tutorial for your specific need.... though, the following can give you a general sense of "how things work")

Long story short... your PC can't recognize your device. 

Download Zadig. Connect device, and in Device Manager locate it. Right click on the device and click on Properties, then navigate to the tab labelled Drivers... delete drivers- Make sure you know what you are doing! 

Have Zadig open and find the device in the drop down menu. You may need to add the device.....but most often, it is auto populated in that drop down. Select the appropriate drivers that you are going to force instal. Click the button that says "Reinstall Drivers". 

As a good measure restart the PC. 

If all went well, then, going forward(at least till the next Windows update where it will think it knows best and overrides this change and you'll not understand why you are having so many issues with the device since Windows did this on the low...and after hours of trying to trouble shoot you realize this fact.... but only after negatively impacting your mental health dramatically....)ehem..... if things went well then your device will be ready for your use. 

Enjoy. 

Oh, that "how to" is incredibly high level...and I require you to seek better information on the How To part of Zadig...because...again....this post was/ is more of a reminder or bookmark incase I've forgotten and having driver woes.....

Double oh... and that "better" way of getting your HackRF recognized.... post to follow shortly- so, check back.


Links: Zadig, Zadig GitHub

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