Installing the ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux)

There’s an add-on for the Arduino IDE that allows you to program the ESP32 using the Arduino IDE and its programming language. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to install the ESP32 board in Arduino IDE whether you’re using Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.
Using Arduino 2.0? Follow this tutorial instead:
Installing ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE 2.0
If you have any problems during the installation procedure, take a look at the
ESP32 Troubleshooting Guide
Learn ESP32 with Arduino IDE
Prerequisites: Arduino IDE Installed
Before starting this installation procedure, you need to have Arduino IDE installed on your computer. There are two versions of the Arduino IDE you can install: version 1 and version 2.
You can download and install Arduino IDE by clicking on the following link:
arduino.cc/en/Main/Software
Which Arduino IDE version do we recommend? At the moment, there are some plugins for the ESP32 (like the SPIFFS Filesystem Uploader Plugin) that are not yet supported on Arduino 2. So, if you intend to use the SPIFFS plugin in the future, we recommend installing the legacy version 1.8.X. You just need to scroll down on the Arduino software page to find it.
If you’ll use Arduino 2, you can follow this tutorial instead:
Installing ESP32 Board in Arduino IDE 2.0
If later on, you need to install the SPIFFS plugin, you can install Arduino 1.8.X and have both versions installed on your computer.
Do you need an ESP32 board?
You can
buy it here
Installing ESP32 Add-on in Arduino IDE
To install the ESP32 board in your Arduino IDE, follow these next instructions:
In your Arduino IDE, go to
File
>
Preferences
Enter the following into the “Additional Board Manager URLs” field:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json
Then, click the “OK” button:
Note:
if you already have the ESP8266 boards URL, you can separate the URLs with a comma as follows:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_index.json, http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
Open the Boards Manager. Go to
Tools
>
Board
>
Boards Manager…
Search for
ESP32
and press install button for the “
ESP32 by Espressif Systems
“:
That’s it. It should be installed after a few seconds.
Testing the Installation
Plug the ESP32 board to your computer. With your Arduino IDE open, follow these steps:
1. Select your Board in
Tools
>
Board
menu (in my case it’s the
DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1
)
2. Select the Port (if you don’t see the COM Port in your Arduino IDE, you need to install the
CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers
):
3. Open the following example under
File
>
Examples
>
WiFi (ESP32)
>
WiFiScan
4. A new sketch opens in your Arduino IDE:
5. Press the
Upload
button in the Arduino IDE. Wait a few seconds while the code compiles and uploads to your board.
6. If everything went as expected, you should see a “
Done uploading.
” message.
7. Open the Arduino IDE Serial Monitor at a baud rate of 115200:
8. Press the ESP32 on-board
Enable
button and you should see the networks available near your ESP32:
Troubleshooting

If you try to upload a new sketch to your ESP32 and you get this error message “
A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP32: Timed out… Connecting…
“. It means that your ESP32 is not in flashing/uploading mode.
Having the right board name and COM port selected, follow these steps:
Hold-down the “
BOOT
” button in your ESP32 board
Press the “
Upload
” button in the Arduino IDE to upload your sketch:
After you see the “
Connecting….
” message in your Arduino IDE, release the finger from the “
BOOT
” button:
After that, you should see the “
Done uploading
” message
That’s it. Your ESP32 should have the new sketch running. Press the “
ENABLE
” button to restart the ESP32 and run the new uploaded sketch.
You’ll also have to repeat that button sequence every time you want to upload a new sketch. But if you want to solve this issue once for all without the need to press the
BOOT
button, follow the suggestions in the next guide:
[SOLVED] Failed to connect to ESP32: Timed out waiting for packet header

If you get the error “COM Port not found/not available”, you might need to install the CP210x Drivers:
Install USB Drivers – CP210x USB to UART Bridge (Windows PC)
Install USB Drivers – CP210x USB to UART Bridge (Mac OS X)
If you experience any problems or issues with your ESP32, take a look at our in-depth
ESP32 Troubleshooting Guide
Wrapping Up
This is a quick guide that illustrates how to prepare your Arduino IDE for the ESP32 on a Windows PC, Mac OS X, or Linux computer. If you encounter any issues during the installation procedure, take a look at the
ESP32 troubleshooting guide
Now, you can start building your own IoT projects with the ESP32!
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