Install USB serial drivers

BeginnerMeshtasticMeshCoreAbout 10 minutes

You'll need

Your radio
A USB data cable
A computer with Chrome or Edge

Web flashers talk to your radio over a USB serial port. Many boards work right away; some need a driver for their USB-to-serial chip.

1. Use a data cable

The most common problem is a charge-only USB cable. If nothing happens when you plug in the radio, try another cable first.

2. Check whether the port shows up

Windows: open Device Manager and look under “Ports (COM & LPT)” for a new COM port when you plug the radio in.
macOS: in Terminal, run ls /dev/cu.* before and after plugging in.
Linux: run ls /dev/ttyUSB* /dev/ttyACM* before and after plugging in.

If a new port appears, you’re done.

3. Install the driver if needed

Boards with a separate USB-to-serial chip (common on ESP32 boards, such as the CP2102 on the Heltec V3) may need the chip maker’s driver on Windows or macOS. nRF52 boards and ESP32-S3 boards with native USB usually need nothing extra. Meshtastic’s serial driver pages link the right driver for each chip and show how to test it.

Linux permissions

If a flasher says it “failed to open” the port on Linux, give your user access. The MeshCore FAQ suggests:

sudo setfacl -m u:$USER:rw /dev/ttyUSB0

(Replace ttyUSB0 with your port.) Adding yourself to the dialout group and logging out and back in is a permanent fix on most distributions.

Sources

Checked on October 18, 2026.