Identify Conflicting Drivers
- Before proceeding, ensure that there aren't any conflicting drivers that may be causing issues. Sometimes, third-party USB drivers, misconfigurations, or older versions could interfere with ST-LINK.
- You can check this by opening Device Manager (
Win + X -> Device Manager). Look for any yellow exclamation marks, particularly under Ports (COM & LPT) or Universal Serial Bus controllers. If you find any conflicting drivers or outdated ones, update or remove them accordingly.
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement
- In some cases, Windows may prevent unsigned drivers from installation. You can temporarily disable this feature to install the ST-LINK driver.
- Restart your PC in Advanced Startup by navigating to Settings -> Update & Security -> Recovery -> Restart now under Advanced startup.
- Once the system reboots, select Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Startup Settings and click Restart.
- Upon reboot, press F7 to disable Driver Signature Enforcement.
Install the Latest ST-LINK USB Driver
- Visit the STMicroelectronics website to download the latest ST-LINK USB driver (STSW-LINK009).
- Extract the downloaded archive and execute
dpinst_x86.exe for 32-bit systems or dpinst_amd64.exe for 64-bit systems to install the driver.
Manually Install the Driver via Device Manager
- If automatic installation doesn't work, you can manually install the driver through Device Manager.
- Connect your ST-LINK device and open Device Manager.
- Right-click on the device (it may appear under Other devices or as an unknown device if not recognized), and select Update driver.
- Choose Browse my computer for drivers -> Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.
- Click Have Disk, then browse to the location where you extracted the ST-LINK driver, and select the
.inf file to manually install the driver.
Review USB Device Connections
- Ensure that the USB cable used is functional and capable of data transmission; some cables are for charging only and won't transmit data.
- Try using different USB ports on your computer or connect to a different computer to isolate the issue.
- Verify that the ST-LINK hardware is functioning correctly and hasn't been damaged.
Check System Path for ST-LINK Toolchain
- Sometimes the ST-LINK utility might require proper environment variable configuration. Ensure that the path to ST-LINK tools is correctly set in your system's PATH environment variable.
- You can add it by right-clicking This PC -> Properties -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables. In the System variables section, find Path, click Edit, and add the path to your ST-LINK installation (e.g.,
C:\STMicroelectronics\STM32Cube\STM32CubeProgrammer).
Enable and Start ST-LINK Server
- Verify that the ST-LINK server service is installed and running on your system. This can sometimes affect communication with the device.
- Open Services (type
services.msc in the Run prompt), find any ST-LINK related service, right-click, and select Start or Restart if it's already running.
# Example of starting ST-LINK server in command line
net start stlink_server
Make sure to replace stlink_server with the actual name of the service.
Utilize ST-LINK Command-Line Interface
- If GUI utility errors persist, test with the command-line interface. Open the command prompt as an administrator and navigate to the ST-LINK utilities directory.
- You can check connection and device recognition using:
ST-LINK_CLI.exe -c SWD
This command will connect to the device using the SWD interface and is useful for debugging connectivity issues.
Contact Support or Community Forums
- If you still face issues after trying all the above steps, reach out to STMicroelectronics support or join community forums like the ST Community for further assistance.
- Provide detailed information about your system, ST-LINK version, Windows version, and steps you've already taken to resolve the issue to get more tailored help.
