meshtastic/docs/getting-started/meshtastic-flasher.md
2022-02-24 10:31:11 -08:00

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---
id: meshtastic-flasher
title: Using Meshtastic Flasher
sidebar_label: Using Meshtastic Flasher
---
import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';
## Overview
Meshtastic Flasher is a graphical user interface for flashing [supported devices](/docs/hardware) with Meshtastic.
## Prerequisites
Install Meshtastic Flasher by either [downloading the executable file](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer/releases) or installing using `pip`. The following operating systems are: Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu.
### Install using `pip`
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<TabItem value="linux">
```bash title="Install Meshtastic Flasher"
python3 --version
# ensure you are using at least python v3.6
# change to a directory where you want to create a python virtual environment
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
# if the following command fails, it might tell you what package to install
python3 -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
# your prompt should change - it should include "(venv) in the front
# upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install meshtastic-flasher
```
```bash title="Running Meshtastic Flasher"
meshtastic-flasher
```
</TabItem>
<TabItem value="macos">
```bash title="Install Meshtastic Flasher"
python3 --version
# ensure you are using at least python v3.6
# change to a directory where you want to create a python virtual environment
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
python3 -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate
# your prompt should change - it should include "(venv) in the front
# upgrade pip
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install meshtastic-flasher
```
```bash title="Running Meshtastic Flasher"
meshtastic-flasher
```
</TabItem>
<TabItem value="windows">
```bash title="Install Meshtastic Flasher"
# open a command prompt
# create a new directory for the python virtual environment
cd c:\
mkdir some_dir
cd some_dir
# check that python version is sufficient, must be at least v3.9+
python -m venv venv
# activate the python virtual environment
venv\Scripts\activate
# your prompt should change - it should have (venv) at the beginning
pip install meshtastic-flasher
```
```bash title="Running Meshtastic Flasher"
meshtastic-flasher
```
</TabItem>
</Tabs>
## Flashing the Device
The Meshtastic Flasher will flash the latest firmware to esp32 and nrf52 devices. This is a newly developed application (as of February 1, 2022), so there may be some issues discovered as it is tested by users.
There are three steps:
* Click the "GET VERSIONS" button to get the versions available (from GitHub).
* Click the "DETECT DEVICE" button to determine the port and device variant connected.
* Click the "FLASH" button to flash the version selected, using the port selected to the device.
## Issues?
If you run into an issue, please create a ticket here: [Flasher Issues](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer/issues)
The code can be found at the [Meshtastic-gui-installer repo](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer)
## Known limitations
The following are known limitations:
* Raspberry Pi is not available, since it is arm-based and there are no pre-built libraries for [PySide](https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_for_Python)
* Ubuntu 20.04 is the version used for testing, it may work with other versions
* see [README](https://github.com/meshtastic/Meshtastic-gui-installer/blob/master/README.md) for more details