1. In this video, I share a fix to the ongoing macOS FTDI driver issue that plagues a lot of users connecting the Arduino IDE to boards that use an FTDI chip.
2. 1 Welcome to the Mac OS X Installation Guide This document describes the procedure for installing the Mac OS X FTDIUSBSerial driver for FTDI's FT2232C, FT232BM, FT245BM, FT8U232AM and FT8U245AM devices. The driver is available for free download from the Drivers section of the FTDI€web€site. 3 Mac OS X Installation Guide.

Introduction

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to install FTDI drivers on multiple operating systems. Although this tutorial was written using Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.6, and Ubuntu 13.04, the process should be very similar, if not exactly the same, for other versions/variations of these operating systems.

Suggested Reading

Before you begin this tutorial, you should have the Arduino IDE installed on your computer. Check out our Installing Arduino tutorial for a step by step guide.

Here are some other tutorials and concepts you may want to familiarize yourself with before reading this tutorial:

If you want to access an FTDI device directly on Mac OS X, your best bet is to set the VID/PID of your device to values which are not captured by either Apple's or FTDI's drivers. You can accomplish this using FTPROG on Windows, or ft232rprog on Mac OS X or Linux. (Note that this requires direct access to the FTDI device as well, so you will.

Alright, let’s get to work! You can visit the next section to learn more about the FTDI Basic and why you need the FTDI drivers, or you can skip straight to the operating system of your choice!

Meet the FT232RL

The FT232RL is one of the more commonly used ICs used to convert USB signals to UART signals. This process is very handy in that it allows you communicate with and upload code to an Arduino or other microcontroller without the need for an external programmer. SparkFun carries a board called the FTDI Basic that conveniently breaks out the necessary pins on the FT232RL to perform these actions.

SparkFun’s 5V FTDI Basic. Notice the IC–FT232RL.

There are a few different flavors of the FTDI Basic:

If you are using a 5 volt device, you will need the 5 volt FTDI. If you have a 3.3 volt device, you guessed it, use a 3.3 volt FTDI. LilyPad boards all operate on 3.3V.

We also carry a complete breakout board for the FT232RL should you need access to more pins than the FTDI Basic provides.

Here is a list of some SparkFun products that require the use of an FTDI Basic, come with an FTDI Basic, or have an FT232RL chip on board:

• Arduino Pro 5V and 3.3V
• Arduino Pro Mini 5V and 3.3V
• Mega Pro 5V and 3.3V

There are also some legacy Arduino boards that use the FT232RL. The Arduino Diecimila and Duemilanove main boards along with the original Arduino Mega all use the FT232RL IC. If you have one of these older versions, you’ll want to use the FDTI drivers as well. For a complete list of all Arduino boards, check out this page. Newer versions of Arduino boards, such as the Uno, use a different communication IC, and they will not be covered in this tutorial.

Now that you know why the FTDI Baisic is important and what products it is used for, let’s learn how to install the drivers.

Windows - Quick and Easy

1. By default, windows does not have FTDI drivers installed. If you plug in your FTDI, open the Arduino IDE, go to ‘Tools -> Serial Ports’, and see nothing, you need the drivers! Let’s go get them!

2. Download the FTDI Driver here.

3. Choose ‘Run,’ once it is has finished downloading, or find the file you just downloaded ‘CMD_v2.12.00_WHQL_Certified.exe’ and double-click it to run it.

4. Choose ‘Extract,’ and continue through the installation until it finishes.

5. If everything was successful, you should see some nice green check marks, indicating success! Note: You may need administrator privileges on your machine in order for this to run properly. If things didn’t work out, try the next section of this tutorial: Windows - In Depth.

6. Open up the Arduino IDE, and go to ‘Tools -> Serial Port’. If you now have a COM port, congratulations! Again, if something went wrong, either retry this tutorial or give Windows - In Depth a try!

Windows - In Depth

1. Plug in your FTDI using a USB cable. Windows doesn’t have the correct drivers, so let’s find them!

2. Navigate to the FTDI website, and choose the ‘VCP’ (Virtual Com Port) option near the bottom.

3. Now choose either the 32 bit version or the 64 bit version. Not sure which you have? The next steps will go over how to find that information. If you already know which version you are running, you may skip the next two steps.

4. Open the start menu, right-click on ‘Computer,’ and left-click on ‘Properties’.

5. Look under ‘System type,’ to see which version you have.

6. Now go back to the FTDI site, right-click on the correct version, and save it to your computer. Remember where the files are saved. We’ll need them in the next step.

7. Navigate to the folder containing the files. They will be inside of a .zip file, so you’ll need to extract them. Fifa 15 system requirements. Right-Click on the .zip file, and choose ‘Extract All…’ When the next window appears, as shown above, pay attention to where it is extracting the files. Make sure that ‘Show extracted files when complete’ is checked, and click ‘Extract’.

8. When the extraction is complete, the folder is opened. Again, take note of this folder location. This is the one containing the drivers.

9. We’re almost there! Open the start menu, right-click on ‘Computer’, and left-click on ‘Manage’. You will need administrator rights to do this. If you aren’t an administrator on your computer, talk to the person who is and have them enter their credentials.

10. Left-click on ‘Device Manager’ in the leftmost column. Here is where we see the offending hardware. It has an exclamation mark next to it.

11. Right-click on ‘FT232R USB UART,’ and left-click ‘Update Driver Software…’

12. Now choose ‘Browse my computer for driver software’.

13. Left-click ‘Browse,’ and navigate to the location of the extracted files. Choose the extracted folder. There is no need to search any further in the folder. Then left-click ‘OK’.

14. Make sure ‘Include subfolders’ is checked (very important!), and left-click ‘Next’.

15. After a moment, you will see a success message! Left-click ‘Close’.

16. The Device Manager page will refresh and you will see a new item with an exclamation mark named ‘USB Serial Port’. You will need to install a second driver for the same device. Follow the steps 1-15, as before, and use the same driver folder too!

17. Once those steps are complete, you will see another success message! Left-click ‘Close’.

18. The Device Manager Page will refresh again and show ‘USB Serial Port (COMxx),’ where xx = some number. Congratulations, you now have the proper FTDI drivers and can begin to use your device!

Note: You should only need to go through this process once. Every subsequent FTDI device you plug in should now have these drivers associated with it. However, if this is not the case, you can follow these instructions again for other devices.

Note: If you have more than one FTDI device plugged in to your computer at the same time, all of the devices will show up under this menu. To figure out which device is which, look under the ‘Serial Port’ menu. Take note of the names of each device. Then unplug the device you want to use. Go back to the ‘Serial Port’ menu. The device you unplugged should no longer be listed. That is the device you want. Plug it back in, and select the device that has now reappeared. You can also check the Com port number in the Device Manger to see which device is associated with each Com port.

Linux

1. Plug in the FTDI device to a USB cable.

2. When you download the Arduino IDE in Linux, the download comes with the FTDI drivers bundled with the IDE. However, if you just open Arduino from the desktop, you’ll notice that, if you click on ‘Tools’, the ‘Serial Port’ option is grayed out.

3. Linux includes the drivers necessary to use Arduino, and no additional install is needed. However, permissions might need to be configured. For current instructions on how to set up these permissions, visit this page.

   An alternative method is to run Arduino as root in the terminal with the following command:

   However, this method is encouraged only if you know what you are doing and should only be used as a last resort. You will also need to enter your administrative password to run as root.

4. Arduino should open, and this time the ‘Serial Port’ menu is available.

5. The FTDI device will show up under this menu. It should be named /dev/ttyUSB0. The number may vary depending on how many USB devices you have plugged into your computer. That’s all.

Note: If you have more than one FTDI device plugged in to your computer at the same time, all of the devices will show up under this menu. To figure out which device is which, look under the ‘Serial Port’ menu. Take note of the names of each device. Then unplug the device you want to use. Go back to the ‘Serial Port’ menu. The device you unplugged should no longer be listed. That is the device you want. Plug it back in, and select the device that has now reappeared.

Mac

1. Most of the time, when you install Arduino on Mac OS X, the drivers are installed automatically. However, if there was a problem with the installation and you don’t see any options that include ‘usbserial’ under the ‘Tools -> Serial Port’ menu, then you will need to install the drivers. You may also need to install the full FTDI drivers if you are running OSX 10.10 or later. The factory drivers are not complete.

2. OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or above: Download this driver. Locate the file FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_3.dmg file that was downloaded to your computer, and double click on it to open run it.

   OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or lower: Download this driver. Locate the file FTDIUSBSerialDriver_v2_2_18.dmgfile that was downloaded to your computer, and double click on it to open run it.

   Johnson matthey locations. If you are not sure which version of OS X you have, click on the apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen and choose ‘About This Mac’. You will then see Version 10.X.Y–use the 10.X to determine your system version.

   If you are using the driver for OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or older, you will see two files. Open up the driver file that corresponds with your operating system. For most users, it will be the second file:

3. Continue through the installation, and wait for it to finish. Then click ‘Close.’

4. Now open the Arduino IDE. Under ‘Tools -> Serial Port’ you will now see a ‘usbserial’ option. Congratulations, you’re all set!

Note: You should only need to go through this process once. Every subsequent FTDI device you plug in should now have these drivers associated with it. However, if this is not the case, you can follow these instructions again for other devices.

Note: If you have more than one FTDI device plugged in to your computer at the same time, all of the devices will show up under this menu. To figure out which device is which, look under the ‘Serial Port’ menu. Take note of the names of each device. Then unplug the device you want to use. Go back to the ‘Serial Port’ menu. The device you unplugged should no longer be listed. That is the device you want. Plug it back in, and select the device that has now reappeared.

Unidentified Developer Error

On newer versions of OS X, when you double-click the install packages inside the FTDI disk image, you may be presented with a very Windows-esque type error about not being able to open the files because they are not from an identified developers. This is very similar to the unsigned driver issue in Windows 8.

Quick Fix

To get around this, simply right-click the package you want to install, or press CTRL + click, if you don’t have a right-click. Then select open from the menu.

You will then be given another window asking if you are certain. Click Open, and proceed with the installation as stated above.

In-Depth Fix

For a more permanent fix, you can follow these instructions. However, this method is not suggested as it leaves your computer vulnerable.

Open your System Preferences.

Once open, click the Security & Privacy icon.

Under the General tab, you should see a section about allowing the running of downloaded applications from specific sources. In preveious version of OS X, the defualt was set to Anywhere. However, the defualt setting is now Mac App Store and identified developers.

To use the FTDI drivers, you’ll need to set this back to Anywhere. First, you may need to click on the little lock icon and enter your admin password to make these changes.

Note for educators: You may need to get you network administrator to come and unlock the computer in order to install these drivers.

Once unlocked, click the Anywhere option. Another obnoxious window may appear asking you if you’re sure you want to allow this. Click Allow from Anywhere. Or, you can follow the directions in this window, if you don’t want to make your Mac “less secure.”

Arduino Ftdi Driver Mac Os X

You should now be able to install the FTDI drivers.

FTDI Drivers and OS X Yosemite

With Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and later, Apple has built their own version of the FTDI VCP driver into the operating system (AN134). However, there seems to be some conflict between drivers from FTDIchip.com and the ones inherent to Apple. Luckily, there is a solution to this problem, and it comes from FTDI directly.

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Quick Fix

If you are trying to use the FTDI VCP Driver in your applications, it will not work due to a conflict between the VCP and D2XX drivers. In order to get around this, the Apple supplied Driver must be uninstalled. Plug in the FTDI device in question, and type the following command in a Terminal window:

In-Depth Fix

If the above doesn’t work, you may have better luck using this script from FTDI.

Clicking on this file will bring up the Script Editor on all Macs. The script can be run by clicking on the run icon (black triangle). Again, make sure your FTDI device is connected.

You can make this script into a clickable icon by exporting the script as an application. In the Script Editor, select Export… from the File pull down menu:

In the Export dialog, select Application as the File Format. You can choose any name for the application.

You should now have an automated Apple Script icon to use on your Mac. With the Apple supplied Drivers uninstalled, you may return to the top of this section and install the FTDI VCP Driver as needed. Repeat this process for any other FTDI devices you are using. You may need to repeat this every time you restart your computer.

If you receive this error, it means that the driver has been uninstalled already, and you will need to install the FTDI VCP Driver, as stated above.

Note: if you already have a working Arduino environment, you can safely skip this step.

Windows XP

These instructions are mainly for Windows XP see below other versions of Windows.

Step 1:

Just plug your Arduino into the USB port with the right cable. This balloon should appear.

Step 2:

Choose the option that you’ll select the driver yourself. We don’t want to wait for Windows to find it.

Step 3:

Click “Next”.

Step 4:

Click on “Browse”

Step 5:

Search for the drivers in the Ultimaker directory (or within the Arduino files) you’ve just extracted from the downloaded zip. When the OK button becomes active, press to continue!

Step 6:

Then, choose next.

Step 7:

Press “Continue Anyway”.

Step 8:

Press “Finish”.

That’s it!

Great work! Now you can start using your AmbiLED HD or your Arduino.

Windows 7

Click the start menu, and start typing “Device”. The following entries will show up:

After clicking on “Device Manager”, you will see this screen:

If you don’t see your FTDI USB device, please make sure it was plugged in.

Right-click the FTDI device and choose “Update driver software…”

Choose that you’ll browse for the driver yourself:

Find the folder of AmbiLED HD that you’ve downloaded:

Choose the folder “FTDI USB Drivers” and click OK, then click “Next” in the Wizard.

Choose “Install”. This should be the final step in the wizard. Close the wizard and wait for a balloon to appear at the bottom right. This balloon will tell you that the driver can be used.

Congratulations: That’s it!

Windows 8 and 8.1

No driver required for most of Win8 installations. If you have any problem with your FTDI com port, simply google it. FTDI is a well known USB to Serial hardware and have a lot of solution for problems.
For example if you have driver signature problem, solution here.

Mac OS X

Make sure you’ve downloaded the DMG of ReplicatorG, it contains the driver you need. When you open it, you should see the following files:

Surprise… the ‘Drivers’ folder is where you’ll find the drivers. Open it to reveal the following contents:

Now, open the disk image with the drivers. The opened folder looks like this:

For Mac OS X Tiger (10.4), Leopard (10.5) and Snow Leopard (10.6), open the second installation package, called “FTDIUSBSerialDriver_10_4_10_5_10_6.mpkg”.

Click Continue. You’ll see the change to this version of the driver.

Ftdi Drivers Arduino

Click Continue, again.

Click Install to the default. Enter your (administrative) account login to authorize the installation.

This should take a minute or two until it shows that you’re done!

This document also explains how to install the driver in a step-by-step process:

Linux

Ubuntu or other Debian based systems

The FTDI Driver is included with Ubuntu/Debian. After plugging in the USB cable, you can find your device under /dev/ttyUSB0 (and ttyUSB1, ttyUSB2, etc, if you have more) or /dev/ttyACM0.

Regular users on your ubuntu system may not have permission to write to the ttyUSB or ttyACM device. For example, Pronterface may complain “SerialException: could not open port /dev/ttyACM0″. In this case, change permissions for regular users like so:

sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyACM0

Raspberry PI

You are lucky, there is no extra driver for standard Pi packages. They are coming with FTDI drivers.