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Introduction | How To: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux; Arduino Mini, Arduino BT | Troubleshooting | Board | Environment

## How To Get Arduino Running on Windows

These are the steps you need to follow in order to be up and running:

1. Get an Arduino board and cable
2. Download the Arduino environment
3. Install the USB drivers
4. Connect the board
5. Connect an LED
6. Run the Arduino environment
7. Upload a program
8. Look for the blinking LED
9. Learn to use Arduino

### 1 | Get an Arduino board and cable

The Arduino i/o board is a simple circuit featuring the ATmega8 processor from Atmel. The board is composed of a printed circuit board (PCB) and electronic parts.

There are a few ways to get an Arduino board:

- buy a ready made board. See how you can buy a board or just the PCB.
- build your own board. If you want you can build your own PCB just by downloading the CAD files from the Hardware page. Extract the .brd file and send it to a PCB manufacturer. Be aware that manufacturing a single pcb will be very expensive. It's better to get together with other people and make 20 or 30 at a time. Since you get the full CAD files you can make your own customised version of Arduino. if you make modifications or fix bugs please send us your changes!
  - purchase parts. purchase the parts from any electronics store. The Serial version in particular has been designed to use the most basic parts that can be found anywhere in the world. The USB version on the other hand requires some advanced soldering skills because of the FTDI chip that is an smd part. Here is a list? of parts for the serial board.
  - assemble the board. We put together a step by step guide on how to build an arduino board. Newbies: never soldered before? afraid of trashing thousands of boards before getting one properly soldered? fear not :) learn to master the art of soldering.
  - program the bootloader. In order for the development environment to be able to program the chip, this has to be programmed with a piece of code called bootloader. See the bootloader page on how to program it on your chip.

If you're using a USB Arduino (like the Arduino NG or the Arduino Mini), you need a standard USB cable (A plug to B plug): the kind you would connect to a USB printer, for example. If you're a serial Arduino board, you'll need a serial cable.

### 2 | Download the Arduino environment

To program the Arduino board you need the Arduino environment.

Download Arduino: Arduino 0007 for Windows

### 3 | Locate the USB drivers

If you are using a USB Arduino, you will need to install the drivers for the FTDI chip on the board. These can be found in the `drivers/FTDI USB Drivers` directory of the Arduino distribution. In the next step ("Connect the board"), you will point Window's Add New Hardware wizard to these drivers.

The latest version of the drivers can be found on the FTDI website.

### 4 | Connect the board

Note: specific instructions are available for connecting the Arduino Mini.

If you're using a serial board, power the board with an external power supply (6 to 25 volts DC, with the core of the connector positive). Connect the board to a serial port on your computer.

On the USB boards, the power source is selected by the jumper between the USB and power plugs. To power the board from the USB port (good for controlling low power devices like LEDs), place the jumper on the two pins closest to the USB plug. To power the board from an external power supply (needed for motors and other high current devices), place the jumper on the two pins closest to the power plug. Either way, connect the board to a USB port on your computer.

The power LED should go on.

The Add New Hardware wizard will open. Tell it not to connect to Windows update and click next.

Then select "Install from a list or specified location (Advanced)" and click next.

Make sure that "Search for the best driver in these locations is checked"; uncheck "Search removable media"; check "Include this location in the search" and browse to the location you unzipped the USB drivers to in the previous step. Click next.

The wizard will search for the driver and then tell you that a "USB Serial Converter" was found. Click finish.

The new hardware wizard will appear again. Go through the same steps. This time, a "USB Serial Port" will be found.

### 5 | Connect an LED

The first sketch you will upload to the Arduino board blinks an LED, so you need to make sure you have one connected to the board. Normally, you need both an LED and a resistor. The original Arduino NG, however, has them built-in for use with pin 13. The Arduino NG Rev. C and pre-NG Arduino boards do not have the LED, but they do have the resistor; you'll need to connect the positive (longer) leg of the LED to pin 13 and the negative (shorter) leg to ground (marked "GND"). (Also note that the LED itself will typically be flat on the side with the negative leg.) On any other pin, you'll need to use a resistor with the LED.

### 6 | Run the Arduino environment

Open the Arduino folder and double-click the Arduino application.

### 7 | Upload a program

Open the LED blink example sketch: File > Sketchbook > Examples > led_blink.

Here's what the code for the LED blink example looks like.

Select the serial device of the Arduino board from the Tools | Serial Port menu. On Windows, this should be `COM1` or `COM2` for a serial Arduino board, or `COM3`, `COM4`, or `COM5` for a USB board. To find out, open the Windows Device Mananger (in the Hardware tab of System control panel). Look for a "USB Serial Port" in the Ports section; that's the Arduino board.

You'll need to specify your microcontroller. Look at the main chip on your Arduino board. It should say either ATmega8 or ATmega168. If the latter, you'll need to select ATmega168 from the Tools > Microcontroller menu.

Push the reset button on the board then immediately click the Upload button in the environment (don't wait for the board to "come back to life" before pressing the upload button). Wait a few seconds. If successful, the message "Done uploading." will appear in the status bar.

### 8 | Look for the blinking LED

A few seconds after the upload finishes, you should see the amber (yellow) LED on the board start to blink. If it does, congratulations! You've gotten Arduino up-and-running.

If you have problems, please see the troubleshooting suggestions.

### 9 | Learn to use Arduino

- Tutorials: try these example programs.
- Reference: read the reference for the Arduino language.

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