Hi,
Been a while since I posted, due to other activities.  I do however, think I had this problem before, just can't remember or locate the answer, if so.

I get this when trying to upload to an ESP32 board:

Uploading 'BlinkWithoutDelay' to 'DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1' using 'COM2Uploader started for board DOIT ESP32 DEVKIT V1
Upload method will be: bootloader
Uploading via Bootloader 
ol.exe --chip esp32 --port "COM2
<deleted>
esptool: error: too few arguments

Interestingly, I get the same error with some other ESP32 boards, but I don't get it when using the Arduino IDE on the same PC, or when using Visual Micro/VS on my laptop.

I am using VM 1.2021.0917 and VS 16.11.5 and the latest Arduino, and have tried reinstalling Arduino and VM.

The problem looks pretty obvious:  the com port value inserted in the esptool command is being corrupted, but I cannot find a cause.  The recipe for upload looks OK to me:

tools.esptool_py.upload.pattern="{path}/{cmd}" --chip esp32 --port "{serial.port}" --baud {upload.speed}  --before default_reset --after hard_reset write_flash -z --flash_mode {build.flash_mode} --flash_freq {build.flash_freq} --flash_size detect 0xe000 "{runtime.platform.path}/tools/partitions/boot_app0.bin" 0x1000 }.bin" 0x10000 "{build.path}/{build.project_name}.bin" 0x8000 "{build.path}/{build.project_name}.partitions.bin"
 
I also notice that Arduino IDE (and my laptop's VM) has the following additional boards manager URL (for esp32):

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/package_esp32_index.json

This is what is in C:\Users\jed\AppData\Local\arduino15.  But VM has:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32...

I have tried to copy the Arduino value into the VM IDE Locations page, but it gets overwritten (auto-discovery?).  Not sure if this is the problem or not, but it's the major difference I see between Arduino and my laptop and the VM on my PC.

Any ideas or fixes?

Thanks,
Jed

Simon,
Thanks for the response.  I can email you the vcxproj file, but I think I managed to fix it.  I had discounted my PC's setup because Arduino was working OK, but I chanced upon your website comment to use CP210x version 6 drivers, not version 10.  I checked and I had installed version 10.  After replacing, all worked fine.  For anyone who might need a hint, the drivers are in"CP210x_VCP_Windows.zip".  The non-VCP drivers might also work, not tested by me.

I still find it odd that VM fails but Arduino doesn't; as the same driver is used, I expected no change.  Also odd is that my laptop is using the version 10 drivers with no trouble.  With the version 10 drivers on my PC, I noticed that in the Options page, Last Port has a value filled with Asian characters underneath the COM port name; I'm speculating that the driver returns a corrupted port name when queried, which messes up the esptool command line; Arduino and my laptop manage to not get upset by it, somehow.

Anyhow, thanks for the support, and apologies for wasting your time.  But maybe this will help someone else.

Regards,
Jed