ESP32 not recognized by PC. No COM port problem!

[minky.lg2d]

Apart from what kolban said, I would like to add two comments:

1) Nowadays there are a lot of cheap (Chinese) USB cables that can only be used for charging or powering devices. I assume these have only 2 out of 4 wires: ground and +5V, but no data lines. If you would use a cable like that, the result would be what you described. So make sure you have a 'real' USB cable by testing it on another device. Don't just check if it charges your phone, but check if you are actually able to transfer data.

2) The USB connection is not handled by the ESP32, as an ESP32 only has serial lines (rx and tx), no USB. A dev board typically includes some sort of USB to serial converter chip (sometimes refered to as FTDI). This chip communicates with your computer, resulting in the creation of a virtual COM port. If you have a driver for that chip instaled, otherwise it won't work. Without a driver the chip probably turns up as unsupported or unrecognised device in your hardware list. Although the ESP32 module may be the same, you might have a dev board with a different USB to serial converter than other devices you might have tested on your computer. So if one dev board works and another one doesn't, that does not necessarily mean the board is defective. You might just need to install a driver for the USB to serial chip on your dev board.

With a good cable and the right driver installed, your PC shoud present a COM port even if you would completely remove the ESP32 module from the board, because the USB communication is not handled by the ESP32.

Thank you so much, after changing USB cables, the driver is detected

[freeride01]

Can someone who has gotten the Ethernet Kit or the Wrover Kit to work on Windows 8.1 share what driver exactly they used to make the module appear as two COM ports? Because when I use the VCP driver from https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/ they show up as two USB controllers.

[kutukvpavel]

Last time I checked, FTDI VCP drivers for FT2232H (used on your board) worked fine on Win7 (presumable 8 too). FT2232H indeed has 2 multifunctional ports: A and B. By default, they should be configured as UARTs. However, since your system recognizes the device, but doesn't show the serial ports, and you are not running Win10, I wonder whether this is related: https://github.com/kutukvpavel/Esp32-Win7-VCP-drivers

You could try to change VID/PID in the INFs and manually install them. If still no luck, then I'd say your FT2232 configuration is messed up somehow (but how?? it requires an external EEPROM to operate any other mode but default, AFAIR...).

[AndersM]

COM port not shown on HP spectre, windows 11. Trying to connect a ESP32-wrover-ie.
Is it related to computer, OS or some other problem?
Can't get Silcon labs CP210x driver to start, if COM port added manually?

I am trying to connect on a Hp Spectre the ESP32-wrover-ie (it has a CP210x chip for USB to UART).
I downloaded and installed the Silicon Labs driver for CP210x but no Ports (COM & LPT) was shown in Device Manager.
I then manually installed a Port in the Device Manager>Actions>Install legacy HW choosing Ports> Silicon lab > CP210x

But CP210x driver do not start?
I have tried all versions but it won't work. I have tried adding virtual COM ports using Electronic Teams drivers but they don't have the UART support so the CP210x doesn't work?

[ESP_Sprite]

Are you 100% sure you're not using a charging-only USB cable?

[jenscoosemans]

Hi,
I had the same issue when first using an ESP32 on a new device, the issue for me was that it was plugged in through the UART port instead of the USB port, which resulted in it not downloading the drivers