Use of FTDI devices in life support and/or safety applications is entirely at the user’s risk, and the
user agrees to defend, indemnify and hold FTDI harmless from any and all damages, claims, suits
or expense resulting from such use.
Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI)
Unit 1, 2 Seaward Place, Glasgow G41 1HH, United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (0) 141 429 2777 Fax: + 44 (0) 141 429 2758
Web Site: http://ftdichip.com
Copyright © 2016 Future Technology Devices International Limited
Application Note
AN_396
FTDI Drivers Installation Guide for
Windows 10
Version 1.0
Issue Date: 2016-02-02
The purpose of this application note is to provide users of FTDI chips with a
simple procedure for installing FTDI drivers for FTDI devices used under
Windows 10.
Application Note
AN_396 FTDI Drivers Installation Guide for Windows 10
V ers ion 1 .0
Doc ument Reference N o.: FT _001281 C learance N o.: FT DI# 4 8 6
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P roduc t Page
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Table of Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................ 2
2 Installing FTDI Device Drivers ................................. 3
3 Installing CDM Drivers ............................................. 4
3.1 Windows Update .............................................................. 4
3.2 Pre-Installation using the FTDI setup executable .............. 5
3.3 Manual Installation........................................................... 9
4 Uninstalling FTDI Devices ...................................... 23
5 Troubleshooting .................................................... 24
5.1 Windows 10 cannot find drivers for my device ................. 24
5.2 Devices not shown in Device Manager for uninstalling ..... 25
5.3 Windows 10 warning message ........................................ 28
5.4 Driver will not install on Windows 10 x64 ........................ 29
5.5 Unable to view device installation status ......................... 30
6 Contact Information .............................................. 33
Appendix A – References ........................................... 34
Document References ............................................................ 34
Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................. 34
Appendix B – List of Tables & Figures ......................... 35
List of Figures ........................................................................ 35
Appendix C – Revision History .................................... 37
Application Note
AN_396 FTDI Drivers Installation Guide for Windows 10
V ers ion 1 .0
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P roduc t Page
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1 Introduction
The purpose of this application note is to provide users of FTDI chips with a simple procedure for
installing FTDI drivers for their devices under Windows 10.
This installation guide is only intended for installing FTDI devices on the following versions o f
Windows 10.
Windows 10
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Pro
Windows 10 Enterprise
Windows 10 Education
Windows 10 32 bit and 64 bit are supported.
This document does not cover Windows 10 IoT, embedded or mobile. A separate driver is required
for these versions of operating systems.
Application Note
AN_396 FTDI Drivers Installation Guide for Windows 10
V ers ion 1 .0
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2 Installing FTDI Device Drivers
The Windows Combined Driver Model (CDM) may be installed on XP, VISTA, Windows 7, Windows
8 or Windows 10 allowing applications to access FTDI devices through either the D2XX DLL or a
COM port without having to change driver type. However, it should be noted that an application
can only communicate through one of these interfaces at a time and cannot send commands to the
D2XX DLL and the associated COM port at the same time.
The CDM driver comes in two parts as shown in the block diagram below. The first part is the bus
layer (FTDIBUS.sys) that provides D2XX style functionality and is always installed. The second part
is the serial COM port layer (FTSER2k.sys) and the CDM driver will de termine whether a COM port
should be exposed by reading the EEPROM of FT232R, FT245R, FT2232D, FT2232H, FT4232H,
FT232H, FT-X series and other FTDI devices. In the case of FT232BM, FT245BM, devices, the CDM
driver will default to always installing both the bus and COM port parts.
This com port installation can be disabled and EEPROM settings ignored by changing the driver INF
files as detailed in FTDI Application Note AN_107 Advanced Driver Options. Please note that
modifying the INF files of a Microsoft HCK certified driver will invalidate the Windows certifica tion.
The FTDI driver download page is available here http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm
Figure 2.1 Windows CDM Driver Architecture
Application Note
AN_396 FTDI Drivers Installation Guide for Windows 10
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3 Installing CDM Drivers
To install CDM drivers for an FTDI device under Windows 10, follow the instructions below:
Connect the device to a spare USB port on your PC.
3.1 Windows Update
If there is an available internet connection, Windows 10 will silently connect to the Windows
Update website and install any suitable driver it finds for the device.
Figure 3.1 shows the automatic driver installation taking place.
Figure 3.1 Windows Update Installation
