ESP32 Forum

Hi All
My first attempts have not gone well and don't know where to look.
I decided to follow the getting started guide to Windows 10, using ESP-IDF.
1. I used esp-idf-tools-setup-2.0.exe and installed the tools but pointed to Python 2.7 which was already on the machine rather than install V3. Since I have already checked out the latest ESP-IDF I pointed its location to there too.
2. Then I rebooted the PC
3. I created %userprofile%\esp and copied hello_world to there too. Then moved to %userprofile%\esp\hello_world
4. idf.py menuconfig was attempted but it didn't understand the command.

Therefore it looks like the environment settings are not working, whereby I find idf-py in the "esp-idf\tools".

5.
If I move to that location and try I then get:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 1520, in <module>
main()
File "D:\\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 1433, in main
checks_output = check_environment()
File "D:\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 127, in check_environment
print_idf_version()
File "D:\tools\idf.py", line 545, in print_idf_version
version = idf_version()
File "D:\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 533, in idf_version
"--git-dir=%s" % os.path.join(os.environ["IDF_PATH"], '.git'),
File "C:\Users\Me\.platformio\python27\lib\os.py", line 425, in __getitem__
return self.data[key.upper()]
KeyError: 'IDF_PATH'

I don't know whether this should work from here or not but it may give some clues (?)


Therefore what needs to be done to get something working after this install? Where can I look and do I need to correct things manually?

Thank in advance

Regards

MJ

Hi All

Today I reinstalled everything and allowed installs of newest versions of everything according to the defaults (taking the recommended versions and letting them be installed at their default locations).
Then I allowed it to reboot the PC and tried again.

C:\Users\Me\esp\hello_world>idf.py menuconfig
'idf.py' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.



Surely the getting started for Windows 10 would normally work if one follows every step exactly?
Is it just me or my computer?

Regards

MJ

Hi All

I am searching the Internet for any ideas and have found that possibly environment variables and paths need to be inserted manually. So I added a path the a directory that I found that had "idf.py.exe" version 1.0.1 in it so that it was found.
Then I added an environment variable called IDF_PATH because it said this needed to exist and found the esp-idf which had landed on the deck-top during the install.

Now it does this:

C:\Users\Me\esp\hello_world>idf.py menuconfig
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\Me\Desktop\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 1520, in <module>
main()
File "C:\Users\Me\Desktop\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 1433, in main
checks_output = check_environment()
File "C:\Users\Me\Desktop\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 127, in check_environment
print_idf_version()
File "C:\Users\Me\Desktop\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 545, in print_idf_version
version = idf_version()
File "C:\Users\Me\Desktop\esp-idf\tools\idf.py", line 534, in idf_version
"--work-tree=%s" % os.environ["IDF_PATH"], "describe", "--tags", "--dirty"
File "C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\subprocess.py", line 395, in check_output
**kwargs).stdout
File "C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\subprocess.py", line 472, in run
with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process:
File "C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\subprocess.py", line 775, in __init__
restore_signals, start_new_session)
File "C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37\lib\subprocess.py", line 1178, in _execute_child
startupinfo)
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

Did I make progress and what needs to be done now? Does one need to learn python to be able to work with it?

Are steps missing in the getting started instructions or does one really have to set things up manually?
Should Arduino be used instead by inexperienced users?

Thanks

MJ

Hi All

Finally I got it. I had missed the step to add environment variables by using the "ESP-IDF Command Prompt"

However I missed it due to the fact that I installed with the ESP-IDF Tools installer at https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp ... -installer

And here it says,

Next Steps

If the ESP-IDF Tools Installer has finished successfully, then the development environment setup is complete. Proceed directly to Step 5. Start a Project.

which is what I did and missed step 4.
If one reads very carefully there is also a similar description as in step 4 on the tools installer page but it was easy to miss, as I did, since the statement that all was well after installing (and rebooting, as it requests) gave the impression that there was nothing else to do.

Anyway, it may have taken a few days to get something working but now more interesting things can presumably begin....

Regards

MJ

Hi Mj,

Sorry for the confusion. Indeed once you have gone through the Tools Installer, you can use the IDF Command Prompt shortcut in the start menu. Quoting the docs:

ESP-IDF Tools Installer creates a shortcut in the Start menu to launch the ESP-IDF Command Prompt. This shortcut launches the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) and runs export.bat script to set up the environment variables (PATH, IDF_PATH and others). Inside this command prompt, all the installed tools are available.


If you want to use idf.py from another cmd.exe window, you need to run export.bat located in the IDF directory.