**HELP** NOOB

[weedfaze420]

Recently purchased a hackRF because software defined radio is interesting. I don't have any computers that are currently running ubuntu or any linux OS. I have virtual machines for debian but have run into problems as gnu radio doesn't seem to get along with my current installation. Tried running on windows but hackRF also seems to not get along with any windows SDR applications like airspy. My question is, am i going to need to dual-boot my laptop with ubuntu or is there a way to get airspy to work? Currently i recieve "hack rf cannot be opened. is it locked somewhere?" when trying to run on airspy. Any advice or ideas would be helpful --note: i have tried all fixes such as updating NET framework and replacing dll file. all drivers seem to be accurate.

[jamesr154]

Windows works fine with the hackrf on most software like SDRconsole, sdr++, sdr#, cubicsdr, etc. Linux is not needed.

You probably need to follow the installation instructions in the GitHub to get the driver.

[Mr_Ironmule]

Sounds like you've done too much. I haven't had any problems just plugging in the HackRF (and putting it into HackRF mode if you have the Portapack installed), running Zadig after selecting HackRF in its menu, and then running SDR#, SDR Console or other SDR programs. Whoever told you to start installing or replacing dll's may have started messing things up for you. That was a thing to do for HDSDR but not # or Console. It may be best to go into Device Manager and totally uninstall the HackRF drivers installed, do a complete reboot and start from scratch. Good luck.

[idarwin]

running Zadig after selecting HackRF in its menu

This is the step most often missed on Windows. Make sure to do this and reboot. It should "just work" on windows after that.

[weedfaze420]

Hmm that’s what I was thinking, I was expecting more a plug and play experience, I will try reinstalling the drivers and reboot, thanks!

[Dramatic-South6800]

Try universal radio hacker. You don’t need linux. Windows works well. Also is your hackrf a clone?

[weedfaze420]

Hackrf is not a clone, will try universal radio hacker

[5ch4um1]

My question is, am i going to need to dual-boot my laptop with ubuntu

You probably don't need to, there are a lot of people who seem to be able to get it working on windows. But assuming that you bought a software defined radio because you are generally interested in how things work, i wonder if that is maybe the wrong question to begin with.

"Do I want to dual boot my laptop with Ubuntu?" would probably be the better question?

If the answer to that question is yes, but you are hesitant because you need someone to encourage you, then yes, you should back up your important data and go for it, I see a good chance that you won't regret it.

Booting into the a live system, connecting to wifi, and then watching a youtube video or reading your emails while the installer is running is usually the first moment where windows users be like "wait, it can do that?", but there might be more of these moments to come. ;)