[Windows] Uploading via Platformio doesn't work

[LinusHeu]

When I click on upload, it successfully resets the pico to bootloader. I can see the drive in Windows explorer.
But the upload times out and fails.

It worked before and randomly stopped working.
Uploading using the Arduino IDE just works.

[LinusHeu]

Workaround:
In VS-Code, go to the explorer sidebar, right click on .pio\build[YourEnvironmentName]\firmware.uf2 and select "reveal in file explorer". Copy that firmware.uf2 file to the RPI-RP2 drive.

Solution:

1. Download Zadig
2. Plug in the RP2040 board and make sure it's in the bootloader (you see the RPI-RP2 drive). Just press the bootloader button while plugging it in.
3. In Zadig turn on: Options -> list all devices
4. In the device dropdown find RP2 Boot (Interface 1).
5. In the right column, select WINUSB
6. Click replace driver
7. unplug and replug the RP2040 board and try uploading again. You might have to restart your PC.

You can mess stuff up with zadig!
Make sure to select the correct board. If the current driver is something with "hid" that's DEFINITELY THE WRONG DEVICE!
For RP2 Boot (Interface 0) USBSTOR is the correct driver, don't change that!

Does Windows hate me? I feel like for every device that isn't for mainstream consumers, I have to regularly fix drivers using zadig. And randomly windows decides to switch devices to wrong drivers, even though the current one was correct. 😆

[LinusHeu]

I think there might be something more going on...

1. The Getting started with Raspberry Pi Pico pdf mentions on page 70 that "libusb-win32" is the correct driver that should be installed using zadig. That is also the driver that Windows automatically installs. With this driver uploading works using the arduino-pico and Arduino IDE but not using PlatformIO.
2. The picotool version on PlatformIO is pretty outdated. .platfromio/packages/tool-rp2040tools/ricotool.exe. It doesn't have the version command, so it's a version prior to 1.10.0.
   Unfortunately, I can't find out which version of picotool is used by the arduino IDE as it never outputs anything, even when I use .\picotool.exe help. (Appdata/local/ARduino15/packages/rp2040/tools/pqt-picotool/1.5.0-b-03f2812)
3. It doesn't work with the Arduino IDE and MBED core either. I think arduino-pico on Platformio uses the same picotool as Arduino-mbed.

This might be related to:
raspberrypi/debugprobe#3
raspberrypi/picotool#20
raspberrypi/pico-feedback#178

Maybe a newer version of picotool could fix this problem. 🤔