NederlandsKlik deze knop voor de Nederlandstalige website

SDRsharp (SDR#): installing on Windows 7/Vista

| 12 August 2014 | RTL-SDR | 10 Comments
Installing SDRShart (SDR#) on Windows 7/Vista

SDR# (‘SDRSharp’) is a popular ‘Software Defined Radio’ software application. SDR Sharp is easy to use, there are lots of extensions available and it’s free! Here I will show you how to install SDR# on Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

If you want to learn how to install SDRsharp on Windows 10, check out this more recent post.

Requirements:

  • A PC running Windows (Windows 7/Vista);
  • A compatible SDR-receiver (here I will use the RTL-SDR) and antenna;
  • Microsoft .NET Framework, but you will probably already have this on your computer.


It is very important that you do NOT install the drivers that came with your RTL-SDR. If you have already installed them, you should remove them first.

Installing SDRSharp:

  1. Visit http://airspy.com/download/ to download SDR Sharp. Extract the archive on your PC.
  2. Find your exctracted files and double clicl the file install.bat. Some additional files needed by SDRSharp will be downloaded. After downloading has finished, you can close the DOS window by pressing any key.
    SDR# 'install.bat' starten
    SDR#: running ‘install.bat’

    SDR# bestanden downloaden
    SDR#: downloading files
  3. Attach the RTL-SDR to your computer. Windows will start searching for drivers, wait for it to finish.
  4. In the subdirectory called ‘sdrsharp’ you will now find the file ‘zadig.exe‘. Right-click this file and choose ‘run as administrator‘.
    SDR# map 'sdrsharp' openen
    SDR#: subdirectory ‘sdrsharp’

    Zadig als administrator uitvoeren
    Zadig.exe: run as administrator
  5. When Zadig is running, choose ‘Options’ and make sure ‘List all devices‘ is selected.
  6. Go to ‘Device’ and select ‘Bulk-In, Interface (Interface 0)’ (or ‘RTL2832UHIDIR’).
  7. Click on the big button labeled ‘Install Driver’. Zadig will now install the driver, this might take a while.

    Zadig RTL-SDR usb-driver installeren
    Zadig: installing the RTL-SDR usb-driver
  8. After Zadig has finished installing the driver you can start SDR# by double clicking the file ´SDRSharp.exe’.

    SDR# SDR Sharp starten
    SDR#: running SDR Sharp
  9. In SDR# go to ´Source´ in the top left corner and choose ´RTL-SDR / USB´.

    SDR# RTL-SDR usb-stick als bron kiezen
    SDR#: RTL-SDR usb as the source
  10. Start the receiver by clicking the arrow, you can now tune in to radio stations.

    SDR# ontvangst starten
    SDR#: starting the receiver
  11. If there are no stations to be found or just some weak ones, you should probably increase the RF Gain.

    SDR# RF Gain instellen
    SDR#: increasing the RF Gain
Tags:, , , ,

Related Posts

10 Comments
  1. steve bainbridge

    SDRSHARP will not run Zadig on vista as it does not support XP or Vista

    • oneguyoneblog

      I have used it on Vista before and it’s still working on my old laptop running XP. So Zadig does, or at least did, support Vista and XP. I would not write a blog post about it if it didn’t work. The screenshots in the blog post are from Vista, by the way.

  2. Bob Roberts

    After running all these, sdrsharp is still not installed. Does not appear “All Programs”, and there is no way to start sdrsharp.

    • oneguyoneblog

      Hi Bob, as mentioned in the artice (see step 8), you should start SDRSharp by double clicking “SDRSharp.exe” in the installation folder. It doesn’t make a shortcut in the start menu, so if you want one you should make one yourself.

  3. Dan

    I was able to get this running on Windows Vista today. Goto http://zadig.akeo.ie/downloads/ and pick the 2_2 (non XP) version and follow the instructions on this blog from point #5 on.

  4. David Lawrence

    Hi,, I get as far as step 7, but do not get winusb(v1.7600.16350…..etc) in second driver box on right of green arrow, (but I do in the left box,) ,I get libusbK v3.0.7.0 go to replace driver, then after 5 minutes driver install fails. I am using zadig 2.2 as admin. Using HP 2710p laptop, rtl-sdr blog v3, and vista 32 bit. Any ideas please? thx David

  5. david lawrence

    Seems zadig cannot find driver, lists 7 devices found but all seem to be laptop installed items, , no winusb v 1.7600……. when I plug rtl dongle in.

  6. Tarnsat

    Man sollte unter Windows7 SDR# NICHT im Programmverzeichnis installieren, weil es sich dann manchmal aufhängt, sondern beispielsweise unter c:\sdrsharp-x86\

    Wenn sich der alte Treiber mit der Version 2.4 unter Windows7 NICHT austauschen lässt, hat es sich als hilfreich erwiesen den zadig für die “Mission-Rohr-frei” in der Version 2.2 zu installieren, damit den Treiber mit Modus brutale austauschen, dann wieder die Version 2.4 installieren und nochmal “drüberbügeln”, dann klappte es auch bei den neuen Versionen unter Windows7

  7. George Earl Martin

    I installed on an IBM Thinkpad laptop and all seemed to go OK. However when I click on PLAT the graph starts to dance but there is no audio all levels are at the max and showe movement but still no sound from speakers

  8. Reynaldo

    This work on W10??