# Add new board without Board Manager on IDE 1.6.8

**URL:** <https://forum.arduino.cc/t/add-new-board-without-board-manager-on-ide-1-6-8/379140>\
**Category:** IDE 1.x\
**Created:** [April 12, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/add-new-board-without-board-manager-on-ide-1-6-8/379140 "2016-04-12T14:15:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 10

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**Author:** ![pert](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/pert/32/217111_2.png) [@pert](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/pert)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2017, 8:48am UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/add-new-board-without-board-manager-on-ide-1-6-8/379140/10 "2017-05-30T08:48:41Z")

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It's not required to install hardware packages via Boards Manager. That's just a way to make installation easier for the users. For development and testing I recommend doing a manual hardware package installation instead. You can do this by copying the package to the {sketchbook folder}/hardware folder (if the hardware folder doesn't exist then create it. You can find the location of the sketchbook folder in the Arduino IDE at **File \> Preferences \> Sketchbook location**. Restart the Arduino IDE if it's running and the boards should now appear in the **Tools \> Board** menu.

Let's say your hardware package vendor name is zvipesh, I know the architecture is AVR because you said they are ATmegas. The folder structure should look like this:

{sketchbook folder}  
|\_hardware  
|\_zvipesh  
|\_avr  
|\_boards.txt

Note that this folder structure differs from what you will find with the hardware packages installed via Boards Manager in that there is no version folder.

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