RTL-SDR Windows 11

[Lebowski]

I cannot get the RTL-SDR Dongle to work on a Windows 11 machine. I've tried till I'm blue in the face on more than one system...cannot get a driver to work. Should I just spin up a Win 10 or Linux VM? Or can someone point me to something that works? I found a few YouTube vids etc. and they don't work.

Thanks!!

 

[lwvmobile]

Zadig driver?

 

[Lebowski]

Zadig driver?

Yep, tried it does not work. tried all of the drivers in Zadig. I think maybe it's a Win 11 thing?

 

[a417]

What is the specific problem you are getting?

 

[Lebowski]

What is the specific problem you are getting?

Cannot get a driver to work, so no driver found for the device.

 

[lwvmobile]

Never had an issue getting an rtl dongle to work in my Windows 11 VM, so I really doubt Windows 11 is the issue. Could be a dead dongle, USB related issue, or user error.

 

[lwvmobile]

Could also be YouTube videos fault. I've found those can be unreliable with out of date information, or out of date people making them.

Download Driver 2.7 64-bit driver from:

Zadig - USB driver installation made easy

Install on bulk in interfaces, or on composite hub, can't remember which. Depends on the application, I think.
SDR# also requires the rtlsdr.dll or whatever in its folder I believe, don't think its in there by default if memory serves.

 

[Lebowski]

Could also be YouTube videos fault. I've found those can be unreliable with out of date information, or out of date people making them.

Download Driver 2.7 64-bit driver from:

Zadig - USB driver installation made easy

Install on bulk in interfaces, or on composite hub, can't remember which. Depends on the application, I think.
SDR# also requires the rtlsdr.dll or whatever in its folder I believe, don't think its in there by default if memory serves.

Thanks, did that a few times. I think I may actually have a bad dongle, never occurred to me.

 

[jocam29594]

i have the same problem but i installed parallels on mac pro m1. I could not install rtl-sdr v3 in the virtual machine, neither win10 nor win11. I installed Kali Linux on the same mac and I didn't have any problems with it. This is how I set up parallels VM windows 10 and 11 to a mac computer with an m1 processor.

 

[lwvmobile]

Thanks, did that a few times. I think I may actually have a bad dongle, never occurred to me.

So, do you have anything at all in your Device Manager with the dongle plugged in, like this:



or this?


I've found that if you use Zadig, hit Options and check List All Devices, and uncheck Ignore Hubs or Composite Devices, I have better luck getting some applications to play nicely and enumerate the device index correctly with software (like librtlsdr and RTL_FM) if you install the WinUSB driver directly onto the RTL2838UHIDIR device. Just worth a shot to check and see.



Oh, and just for claification:

I cannot get the RTL-SDR Dongle to work on a Windows 11 machine. I

Is this on an X86-64 machine, or something like Apple Silicon ARM chip?

 

[Dirk_SDR]

I cannot get the RTL-SDR Dongle to work on a Windows 11 machine. I've tried till I'm blue in the face on more than one system...cannot get a driver to work. Should I just spin up a Win 10 or Linux VM? Or can someone point me to something that works? I found a few YouTube vids etc. and they don't work.

Thanks!!

No problems here with W11.
You don't have to "get a (Windows) driver to work". Only install Zadig. If the installation is possible (with a recognized RTLSDR stick!), then everything should be ok.
Then the SDR software (SDR#, HDSDR, ...) should recognize the stick.
New versions of SDR# already contain the .dll for the RTLSDR sticks.

 

[sjacket99]

The first part of my video on my website shows how to install the driver if that will help you. RTL SDR Driver Install

 

[maus92]

Could also be YouTube videos fault. I've found those can be unreliable with out of date information, or out of date people making them.

Download Driver 2.7 64-bit driver from:

Zadig - USB driver installation made easy

Install on bulk in interfaces, or on composite hub, can't remember which. Depends on the application, I think.
SDR# also requires the rtlsdr.dll or whatever in its folder I believe, don't think its in there by default if memory serves.

Composite.

 

[KevinC007]

I've got nothing working. Install software, plug in SDR and seems laptops doesn't recognize the stick.. This should have been "easy" according to all people. I'm not a computer guy.

Help anyone?

 

[maus92]

I've got nothing working. Install software, plug in SDR and seems laptops doesn't recognize the stick.. This should have been "easy" according to all people. I'm not a computer guy.

Help anyone?


View attachment 121222

You need to download the Zadig software to install the correct drivers correctly for your SDR sticks. If you are not a "computer guy," find one to help as SDR programs and devices require some amount of computer literacy.

 

[sjacket99]

I've got nothing working. Install software, plug in SDR and seems laptops doesn't recognize the stick.. This should have been "easy" according to all people. I'm not a computer guy.

Help anyone?


View attachment 121222

Here's a link to my website on how to setup the driver. The video also shows how to change the serial number also. But you only need the driver. Website Link.

 

[MP00047311]

I cannot get the RTL-SDR Dongle to work on a Windows 11 machine. I've tried till I'm blue in the face on more than one system...cannot get a driver to work. Should I just spin up a Win 10 or Linux VM? Or can someone point me to something that works? I found a few YouTube vids etc. and they don't work.

Thanks!!

Similar problem in Windows 11 (Dell 7220 Windows 10 upgraded to Windows 11). I know about radio and know about computers, but am challenged by getting the RTL-SDR to work. I've had it working on Android, at least one broadcast FM station (93.1) and it appears to work for AIS (161.975 (Marine ch 87) and 162.025 (ch 88)) but the Android device has only one input so I can't charge and run USB at the same time. Not useful if you need full time AIS. Zadig appears to work. In SDR Sharp, in one configuration, I appear to get random noise at a default frequency, but can't figure out how to get SDR Sharp to receive the frequency I want. I get nothing on the display. The help videos on Zadig and SDR Sharp appear to be for old versions that simply do not work when I'm looking at what's installed. So it may be one of those "where's the 'on' switch" problems. (1) driver (2) receiver operating software (3) select the correct frequency (4) "run"?

 

[maus92]

Zadig / rtl- sdr / airspy works fine on Win 11 Pro. Doing an in place upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11 however is an imperfect procedure. I always start with a fresh install of a new OS version with Linux and Windows.

 

[PDXh0b0]

Similar problem in Windows 11 (Dell 7220 Windows 10 upgraded to Windows 11). I know about radio and know about computers, but am challenged by getting the RTL-SDR to work. I've had it working on Android, at least one broadcast FM station (93.1) and it appears to work for AIS (161.975 (Marine ch 87) and 162.025 (ch 88)) but the Android device has only one input so I can't charge and run USB at the same time. Not useful if you need full time AIS. Zadig appears to work. In SDR Sharp, in one configuration, I appear to get random noise at a default frequency, but can't figure out how to get SDR Sharp to receive the frequency I want. I get nothing on the display. The help videos on Zadig and SDR Sharp appear to be for old versions that simply do not work when I'm looking at what's installed. So it may be one of those "where's the 'on' switch" problems. (1) driver (2) receiver operating software (3) select the correct frequency (4) "run"?

Watch the first 3 minutes

 

[Omega-TI]

Did you try the 32 bit driver?