Issue selecting COM port in IDE

[stengl2011@gmail.com]

I just installed Espressif-ide Version 3.0.0 on Windows 10. Setting up a new project using the hello_world template. When creating a New Launch Target I go to select the ESP Target serial port and the port the board is connected to does NOT show up in the drop down box. I checked device manager and it is there. There are actually 5 ports in device manager and the IDE only shows 3. I disconnect the board and device manager no longer shows the board. I reconnect the board and it comes back in device manager. I tried different cables, different USB ports and get same result. I deleted and reinstalled the CP210x driver and same result. I connect the board and use PUTTY to connect to it and it works. I ran idf.py --version in a command and it works. I switch the board to a different USB port and idf.py --version works. It seems to me to be either IDE or Windows issue. Any help will be appreciated.

[mrmonteith]

I ran into the same situation. Maybe some part of this will help you. Some of the boards use, I think, a pirated copy of the CP210x. In any case I couldn't figure out why everything else, including Arduino IDE, but not the ESP-IDF showed the device. I went into device manager and told it to remove the driver and told it the option to remove the files as well. The downloaded a fresh copy of the driver. After installing and rebooting it recognizes the port. However on these cheaper boards it's a pain to flash code to them. You have to hold down the reset button and wait until it mentions opening the comm port to the device. I then release the reset button and it loads.

My guess is some timing issue or command difference that causes these problems. You might find that boards with a clearly marked CP210x module probably work fine. Well, hope it helps at least.

I had tried installing Visual Studio code and extension for ESP-IDF. That had issues and wouldn't flash. So, decided to switch the Espressif IDE and thought here we go again. But now I'm moving along.

[ESP_radurentea]

Hi, I'm one of the contributors to the ESP-IDF VS Code extension. I'm not sure when you have tried the extension, but from the feedback we've received, we managed to improve the experience for new users. So, if you haven't check it in a while, I would highly recommend to do so and if you run into issues with it, you can open issues directly on the github repo: https://github.com/espressif/vscode-esp ... ion/issues and we will help you out.