Manually Install Drivers for ICD 3 or Real ICE™

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/01/10 15:02

If the driver for the REAL ICE™, ICD2, or ICD3 is not automatically installed, follow these steps to install them manually. The process is similar for Windows XP and Windows Vista, but the steps shown below were performed on a Windows 7 system.

From the Windows Menu, select Control Panel. Then click on Hardware and Sound.

driver install step 1
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Under Devices and Printers click on Device Manager.

driver install step 2
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In the device manager, under Other Devices you should see MPLAB® REAL ICE™ (www.microchip.com) listed (or ICD2 or ICD3). Other items you might see in this category are not related to a Microchip tool.

driver install step 3
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Right click on the Microchip tool and select Update Driver Software….

driver install step 4
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Select Browse my computer for driver software
Locate and install driver software manually

driver install step 5
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Click the Browse… button and navigate to the appropriate driver directory for your operating system.
For 32-bit Windows:

C:\Program Files\Microchip\MPLAB X IDE\Switcher\32bit\winusb
For 64-bit Windows:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microchip\MPLAB X IDE\Switcher\64bit\winusb

For 64-bit systems, you might notice that under the winusb directory is a directory labelled amd64. This is the standard category name used for all 64-bit drivers, even if your processor is Intel based.

driver install step 6
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Click on Install this software anyway. Microchip has not registered the hardware tools with Microsoft, so this message is unavoidable.

driver install step 7
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The driver will begin installing.

driver install step 8
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When the driver installation has finished, click on the Close button.

driver install step 9
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Back in the Device Manager, you will see a new category called Microchip Tools with Microchip WinUSB Device listed under it. The driver will show the same name for the REAL ICE and the ICDs. In Windows 7, this driver will now be automatically loaded for any Microchip WinUSB device, regardless of which USB port it is connected to.

driver install step 10
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