The purpose of this article is to review how to install the USB driver when it doesn't install automatically. The common issue is the Fluke-345 USB identity needs to be programmed.
Reprogramming the Fluke 345 for Windows 10
If the drivers for the 345 are not installing one possible reason is the VID and PID are programmed incorrectly in the 345 preventing Windows from allowing the correct driver to be used.
To confirm we need to connect the 345 to the PC and open Windows Device Manager. To open Windows Device Manager you can simply type Device Manager in the Windows search or if you right click the Windows start button and select run you can type devmgmt.msc in the run field to launch.
Once Device Manager opens under Other Device most likely you will see the following image.
To confirm the Hardware Ids right click on the device entry and select Properties. We want to navigate to the details tab and select Hardware Ids in the Property box. This will allow us to see the current PID and VID. VID should be 0F7E and the PID should be 9005. In the example below we see that the PID and VID are incorrect and will need to be reprogrammed.
Tools Required for the Upgrade
- Fluke 345
- USB Cable
- Fluke Drivers
- FTDI Programming Tool
- Admin Rights
Drivers can be obtained from the Fluke website under Support and software downloads.
Link Current as of 11/04/2020
https://dam-assets.fluke.com/s3fs-public/F345_1735_WHQL_USB_driver.zip
The programming tool can be obtained from the FTDI website by searching FT Prog.
Link Current as of 11/04/2020
https://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#FT_PROG
Prepare Drivers for Modification
Before we can program the 345 we need to make sure the Fluke drivers have been downloaded and extracted. Click to open the downloaded drivers and there should be an option to Extract all. Select this option and pick the location to place the folder into and make sure to note this location.
Open the extracted folder and the following contents should be visible.
We are going to need to modify the ftdibus.inf file and the ftdiport.inf file. To begin just click to open the ftdiport.inf file first. This should open in Notepad. Modify the VID and PID with your 345s information from earlier.
Scroll down and make the following changes again using the PID and VID of your 345. Then Select File and Save.
Now click ftdibus.inf to open. This should again open into Notepad for editing. Make the following changes using your 345s PID and VID.
Finish the changes to the ftdibus.inf file as follows again using the VID and PID of your 345. Select File and Save when the change is complete.
Boot Windows 10 Using Advanced Boot Menu
Select Start and Power. Hold the Shift key down while choosing Restart and the following options should present themselves. Select Troubleshoot.
Select Startup Settings.
Select Restart.
Press 7 for Disable driver signature enforcement.
The PC will now reboot with driver enforcement turned off temporarily.
Once the reboot completes open Windows Device Manager again. Right click on the 345 and select update drivers. Pick the option to browse for drivers.
Make sure when browsing you select the extracted folder the files are in. Select OK.
The following warning will most likely show up and select Install this driver software anyway.
The driver installation should finish.
FT Prog tool walkthrough
Launch the program tool and should be able to see something like the following image, but might be an empty screen. If the screen is empty make sure again the 345 is still connected to the PC and select DEVICES. Click Scan and Parse to update. Should see something finally like the image below.
Next select USB Device Descriptor and pick Custom VID/PID from the dropdown and enter 0F7E for the Vendor ID and 9005 for the Product ID.
Next under Devices at the top select Program in the dropdown. Should see something similar to the image below and select Program.
Once the program is finished open up Windows Device Manager again. Under Ports right click and uninstall the 345, but make sure to check delete drivers. Also make sure to delete the extracted driver folder at this time. Now restart the PC.
With the PC restarted open up Windows Device Manager and under Other Devices right click and select properties and confirm the PID and VID are now correct as below and close.
Now extract the drivers again from the .zip file downloaded from Fluke earlier. If that was deleted download and extract as was done in the beginning of the instructions. Right click on the 345 again in Device Manager again and update drivers. Browse to the extracted folder again and start.
Note that after this process you might still see a USB device under Other Devices. Right click the USB device and update the driver once more. This should finalize the installation process and the 345 should show up under Ports in Device Manager.
The installation should complete. Now the 345 can be used with Windows 10 and PowerLog Classic.
