SDR# (SDRSharp) Set Up Guide (Tested on Windows

10/8/7 32/64 Bit) (XP Incompatible)

SDR# is the most commonly used SDR program on Windows. We recommend it as one of
the easiest to use and setup with the RTL-SDR.

1. Purchase an RTL-SDR dongle. The cheapest and best for most applications is the
R820T/R820T2 dongle. Information on purchasing one can be found here.

2. You must have the Microsoft .NET 4.6 redistributable installed to use SDRSharp.
Follow the link and install the redistributable. Most Windows 10 PCs should already
have this installed by default, but PCs with older operating systems may need this to
be installed in order to run SDR#. Note that .NET 4.6 is not compatible with Windows
XP. If you are running XP please scroll down on this page and look for the HDSDR or
SDR-Console install guides. Note that on some computers you may also need to install
the Visual C++ Runtime if it is not already installed.

3. Go to www.airspy.com and find the downloads button on the top menu. Next to the
“SDR Software Package” heading click on the download button to download
sdrsharp.zip. Note that we recommend downloading the x86 version for now even if
you have a 64-bit OS as the x86 version is a bit more stable currently.

4. Extract (unzip) sdrsharp.zip to a folder on your PC. (Important! Many people who have
issues forget this step! Do not run the files from within the zip file or the following steps will
fail). (Also, do not extract into a folder within the Program Files directory, or installation may fail as
these folders are often automatically made read only by Windows).

5. Double click on install-rtlsdr.bat from within the extracted folder. This will start a
command prompt that will download all the drivers required to make SDRSharp work
with RTL-SDR. The command prompt will automatically close after a few seconds
when it is done. It the bat file ran successfully the files rtlsdr.dll and zadig.exe will
be downloaded into the SDR# directory. If they were not downloaded then your PC or
anti virus solution may be misconfigured and may have trouble running batch files
(Check that the folder is not read only, and not located in the Program Files directory).
If install-rtlsdr.dll fails, do a manual driver installation.

6. Plug in your dongle. Do not install any of the software that it came with (if any),
and ensure that you wait a few seconds for plug and play to finish attempting to install
 the dongle (it will either fail or install Windows DVB-T drivers). If you’ve already
installed the DVB-T drivers that came on the CD bundled with some dongles,
uninstall them first.

7. In the folder where you extracted the sdrsharp files find the file called zadig.exe.
Right click this file and select “Run as administrator”.

8. In Zadig, go to “Options->List All Devices” and make sure this option is checked.

9. Select “Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)” from the drop down list. Note on some PCs
you may see something like RTL2832UHIDIR or RTL2832U instead of the bulk in
interface. This is also a valid selection. Do not select “USB Receiver (Interface 0)”
however.

10. We need to install the WinUSB driver, so also ensure that WinUSB is selected in the
box after the arrow next to where it says Driver (this is the default selection). – Note that
there has been some confusion for a few people over this step. The goal is to install the WinUSB driver. So to be clear, the box to
the left of the arrow shows the currently installed driver, whereas the box to the right of the arrow shows the driver that will be
installed in the next step. The first time you open zadig the box on the left will show either ‘None’, or the default DVB-T drivers
installed by Windows (RTL2832UUSB), depending on your Windows configuration and version.

11. Click Replace Driver. On some PC’s you might get a warning that the publisher
cannot be verified, but just accept it by clicking on “Install this driver software
anyway”. This will install the drivers necessary to run the dongle as a software defined
radio. Note that you may need to run zadig.exe again if you move the dongle to
another USB port, or want to use two or more dongles together.
12. Open SDRSharp.exe (note that the first time you do this you may get a smartscreen
message indicating that Windows has protected your PC, this is a false alarm. Simply
click on “more info” and then “run anyway”). Set the drop down box in the “Source”
tab on the top left to ‘RTL-SDR (USB)’.

13. Press the Play button (the right facing triangle). Your RTL-SDR software radio should
now be set up and ready to use! If everything has worked you should be able to start
tuning to frequencies.

14. Important! Don’t forget to also adjust the RF gain settings by pressing the
Configure button (looks like a cog) up the top next to the Play button. By default the
RF gain is set at zero. A gain of zero will probably receive nothing but very strong
broadcast FM – increase the gain until you start seeing other signals.
Next Steps
After getting your RTL-SDR set up with SDR# we recommend investigating the following:

1. Check out all our featured articles on this blog for various RTL-SDR related projects
and tutorials.

2. Upgrade from the stock antenna. For optimal reception you should use an outdoor roof
mounted antenna. The optimal antenna will depend on the frequency and project you
are interested in, but for a general all purpose antenna we recommend a Discone or
planar disk antenna (pdf).

3. If you are using your RTL-SDR for HF with an upconverter such as the SpyVerter
then we recommended using SDR# with the special decimation drivers. This will
allow you to zoom in on the small bandwidth signals used on HF without loosing
resolution.

4. Check out our store for various RF accessories such as filters, LNA’s and antennas.

Troubleshooting
• I get the error “No Device Selected” when trying to start the dongle in SDR#.
Make sure you have run the install-rtlsdr.bat file, and that it has sucessfully
downloaded the rtlsdr.dll file into the SDR# folder. If it is not downloaded, check that
your folder is not set to “read only” (this sometimes happens automatically if you
install into Program Files, so do not install into that folder). Another source of
problems is if you have accidentally installed the WinUSB drivers to Bulk Interface
1 instead of 0 with Zadig. If you have done this, then SDR# will not recognise your
dongle. TO fix it go into device manager or Devices and Printers and uninstall the
driver for Bulk Interface 1.

• I get the error “No compatible devices found” when trying to start the dongle in
SDR#
 Long low quality USB extension cables can sometimes cause this error. Some USB
3.0 ports are also incompatible with the dongle and cause this error. One user has had
luck with this error by installing zadig from safe mode. Finally, there is a small chance
that the dongle is actually faulty. If the dongle produces the same error on
multiple computers the dongle is probably faulty and should be refunded or replaced.

• Zadig just hangs when I try to install the driver

People with this problem have usually had success with an alternative zadig tool
available at visualgdb.com/UsbDriverTool. Use the tool to install the WinUSB driver.

• Zadig shows NONE in the driver install screen.

This is normal. The box on the left indicates the CURRENTLY installed driver. The
box on the right indicates the driver THAT WILL BE installed after clicking on the
install button.

• My dongle was working before but today it no longer works and displays an
error when I click on Play.
99% of the time this is because Windows automatic driver updates has automatically
removed the SDR drivers and installed DVB-T drivers in its place. Make sure
Windows automatic driver updates are turned off, and rerun zadig to reinstall the
WinUSB driver.

• My dongle gets extremely hot and stops working, or doesn’t work at all. USB
current measures well above 0.3A.
There is a small number of RTL8232U chips that come from the factory faulty (we
measure this at less than 0.3%). They draw very high current, cause excessive heat and
eventually fail. Some units will work for a few minutes to hours before exhibiting
issues, and others will fail instantly. QC cannot check for those that do not fail
instantly. If you have a USB current meter you can check and see if the current draw is
above 0.3A. If higher then something is wrong with the RTL2832U. If you suspect a
fault like this contact the manufacturer of your dongle and ask for a refund or
replacement.

• I get the error “1 compatible devices have been found but are all busy” or “libusb
Open error -12”
First check that another program is not using the RTL-SDR. To fix this it may be
necessary to reinstall the drivers via zadig and to try every USB port on the PC. You
may want to also try disconnecting all other USB devices connected to the PC. Also
some USB 3.0 ports are buggy, switch to a USB 2.0 port. Some users have also had
success with installing everything from Windows safe mode. Make sure you are not
selecting the “USB Receiver (Interface 0)” in zadig, and instead are selecting the Bulk
in interface, or one that may say RTL2838UHIDIR or something else prefixed with
RTL. If you don’t see this make sure that “Options->List All Devices” is checked and
that “Ignore Hubs or Composite Parents” is unchecked.Another thing to try may be to
disable Windows automatic driver installation. Instructions for disabling this can be
found here. This error also sometimes occurs after the computer has been suspended –
to fix it simply disconnect and reconnect the dongle.

• I get the error “Unable to load DLL ‘rtlsdr’: the specified module could not be
found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E)”
Usually installing the Visual C++ Runtime solves this problem. Most PCs have this
 installed already, but if you are on a freshly installed version of Windows it may not
have been installed yet.

• There is a constant spike in the middle of the spectrum that won’t go away
This is normal and is a side effect of the design of most RTL-SDR dongles. It can be
removed algorithmically in the SDR# software by checking the “Correct IQ” box.

• Zadig takes a long time to install the driver, then fails

You have probably not run zadig in administrator mode. Make sure to right click
zadig, and select “Run as Administrator”. If that fails to work try the alternative
WinUSB installer at visualgdb.com/UsbDriverTool.

• I don’t see Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)

Ensure “Options->List All Devices” is checked. Sometimes you may also need to
uncheck “Ignore Hubs or Composite Parents”. Some people report seeing something
else other than the bulk in interface. It may also show up as the brand of your dongle
or something prefixed with “RTL”, e.g. RTL2832U or RTL2832UHIDR. Any of those
options should work too. In rare cases you may receive a faulty dongle that will not
show up in Zadig no matter what USB port or computer you try it on. You should ask
for a replacement in this case.

• I don’t see RTL-SDR/USB in SDRSharp

You may have downloaded a version without rtl-sdr support. Check that you have
downloaded the official version from the airspy.com website.

• USB 3.0 ports don’t work

Unfortunately many USB 3.0 controllers are buggy and don’t work with some USB
2.0 devices. Generally, USB 3.0 works fine with the RTL-SDR, but there are some
controllers that will just not recognise the dongle. In this case use a USB 2.0 port
instead.

• When running install-rtlsdr.bat I get errors on the command line like “The
system cannot find the file specified” and the sdrsharp folder is not downloaded
This is probably because you did not unzip the files and you are trying to run install-
rtlsdr.bat from within the zip file. Remember to extract the files first, before running
them.

• When I run install-rtlsdr.bat a CMD/DOS window flashes on the screen briefly

then disappears. Nothing is installed.
There seems to be a bug or misconfiguration with some versions of Windows where
batch files cannot be run. One way around this is to install the RTL-SDR drivers
manually. We have instructions for this here: rtl-sdr.com/manual-installation-of-
sdr. Some antivirus solutions are also overly restrictive and do not allow .bat files to
be run. In this case either disable or install a better antivirus, or perform a manual
driver install.

• Reception in SDR# seems very poor/receiver is insensitive

Make sure you have increased the RF gain slider which can be accessed by clicking on
the configure button. Also, in poor reception areas using the stock antenna indoors
may not be sufficient. First test with the antenna placed up high outside. In some cases
with the stock antenna the connection to the antenna can become disconnected in the
 antenna base causing unexpectedly poor reception. In rare cases if you still cannot
receive any strong signals and another radio can, then you may have received a broken
dongle and should ask for a replacement.

• SDR# gives error “Application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click

OK to terminate.”
This might mean that you do not have the correct .NET Framework installed.

• SDR# gives error “Object reference not not to an instance of an object”

This may mean that you do not have an audio driver properly installed on your PC, or
that you do not have any output audio devices enabled. Enable them in the windows
Sound Playback properties.

• The dongle constantly disconnects from the USB port

First test to make sure that it is not the fault of a dodgy USB extension cable by
plugging the dongle directly into the PC. If it still disconnects often the dongle may be
faulty and you should ask for a replacement.

• The dongle won’t connect and the LED does not illuminate on models with an
LED
The dongle is faulty and should be refunded or replaced.

• It seems that my PC is not powerful enough to run SDR# as it uses near 100%
CPU
For graphical GUI SDR software like SDR#, at least a dual core processor is
recommended. If you have a borderline decent CPU and still experience high CPU
usage, try reducing the sample rate to 1 MSPS or less, reducing the FFT display
resolution (or turning it off), turning off Correct IQ and reducing the filter order.

• I used zadig but it broke my keyboard/mouse/other device somehow

This is because you would have clicked the install button in Zadig after selecting the
wrong device in the drop down menu. Make sure you select the correct RTL-SDR
device, (Bulk-In Interface, Interface 0) first. Zadig overwrites previous drivers. To get
the old drivers back you should be able to do so in Windows device manager, update
driver software.

• My R820T2 RTL-SDR shows up as an R820T when I run the diagnostic tool

rtl_test
The R820T2 and R820T are identical electronically except for some minor changes in
the maximum IF filter widths that occurred by accident from using higher quality
silicon in the R820T2. The accidentally different filters and higher quality silicon may
be the reason the R820T2 has generally better performance and less manufacturing
variability. Thus a R820T2 will show up as an R820T on the PC, since there is no
distinction between them in the digital part of the circuit. You can confirm that you
have a R820T2 by checking the markings on the chip.

• My antivirus shows SDR# as a virus.

This is almost 100% a false positive. SDR# is updated often and thus a new .zip file is
sometimes released almost daily. Poorly designed antivirus programs will sometimes
assume that any file that is not downloaded often is a virus. With SDR# being updated
 so often it takes a while for many people to download the new version and build up
trust with the antivirus company.

• The Mode selection buttons in SDR# are graphically glitching and I cannot click
on them.
Some users have found that this bug is caused due to selection of a “custom scaling
level” or “custom sizing options” in Windows. Reset this option back to default in
Windows display settings to fix the bug.

• When closing SDR# I get an error like “An error occurred loading a
configuration file: Access to the path ‘C:\Program Files\SDR\s14i12qq.tmp’ is
denied. (C:\Program Files\SDR\SDRSharp.exe.Config) —>
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path ‘C:\Program
Files\SDR\s14i12qq.tmp’ is denied.”
This is usually because you have copied the SDR# files into a folder that is read only.
In Windows folders located in “C:\Program Files” are usually automatically read only.
To fix, install SDR# into a non read only folder that is not located in Program Files,
for example “C:\SDR”.

• My dongle came with a remote control. What is it for?

Some sellers opt to include the remote control that is used for changing TV channels.
It is only useful for when the dongle is used for its original purpose – as a DVB-T
HDTV receiver. The remote control has no purpose when the dongle is used as an
SDR.

• I want to watch DVB-T with my dongle, how do I do it?

The original purpose of the dongle was for DVB-T TV, and it can still do this. But
please note that the DVB-T drivers and the SDR drivers are different, and they cannot
both be installed at the same time. You can download the DVB-T drivers here. We
recommend using Prog-DVB as the TV software.

If you continue to have issues please feel free to post in the troubleshooting section of our
Forums.

How to set the Gain

The gain can be adjusted in SDR# by clicking on the Configure button which looks like a cog.
When tuning the RF gain you are trying to get the signal as strong as possible, whilst keeping
the noise floor as low as possible. Start with a low gain setting, and slowly increase the gain
slider. Watch in the frequency spectrum as the signal strength increases, but stop just before
the point at which the noise floor starts to rise.

The noise floor is the part of the frequency spectrum where there are no signals.

SDRSharp Plugins

The official list of SDRSharp plugins can be found here and our unofficial list of plugins can
be found here.

SDRSharp Guide
A good guide to learning how to use SDRSharp and what all the options do can be found here.
Another great illustrated guide can be found here.