"avrdude: ser_open(): can't open device "\.\COM12": The system cannot find the file specified."
this error is fairly new to me. for a few days i could power cycle and it would move past this. now i cannot use any of my micro controllers with the arduino ide. it doesn't matter what i set the port to through device manager and that is the full depth of my computer knowledge, man. i am tapped out.
i have looked through similar posts but have not seen a solid answer, so please bear with the repeat post.
See that a dozen times a day both on the forum, and on my Mac. Make sure ALL copies of the IDE are shut down, and if you have additional serial monitors (3rd party) also shut them down. These boards can be finicky at times, just persevere.
I almost forgot, device manager I the buggiest part of windows, so .......
I don't have a lot of experience with changing the ports in Device Manager, but I seem to remember that I encountered some strange problems uploading to a board when I did that years ago, and the problems were only resolved after I restarted the computer. Please restart your computer and then try uploading to the board again. Hopefully the error will no longer occur after that.
If it still occurs, let us know and we'll investigate further.
Please add a reply here on this forum thread to tell us which Arduino board you are using.
Please be as specific as possible as some Arduino boards with similar names have significant differences and the forum helpers can only provide effective assistance if we are aware of which one is being used.
If you aren't sure how to describe which board you are using, you can provide the link to the online product listing you bought the board from and we'll proceed based on the information found there.
so far as i can tell this is random.
i can usually get whatever i am using to work by switching ports a few times or plugging in a usb stick or something.
have not had to restart since i posted this and that is good enough for me.
thank you, friends.
None of my boards worked and i got the same message you are getting. Then i turned off my serial monitor that i did not notice was running, tried uploading and presto it started working straight away.
Then to test the issue i ran serial monitor, tried to upload again, and it went back to having the problem. Turned the serial monitor off, tried uploading and it worked perfectly again.
I am on windows 11 and using the new software. Never used to be like this but with the new computer, windows version, and Arduino IDE2.3.3, this problem only happens if i have Serial monitor running. This is the same with all the boards i connect. Honestly i wouldnt bother writing but i saw nothing was helping ppl and closing serial monitor was suggested a few comments back but probably wasnt tried. I can tell you now it is just the serial monitor running while uploading causing it.
you might not notice serial monitor is running, look at the output window at the bottom of the sketch. If beside the word "output" you can also see the words "Serial monitor", it means Serial monitor is running it is just hidden from view as it is running behind the output window. If Serial monitor is actually off then you will only see the word "output" above the bottom window. Only then will your upload work without the avrdude error appearing.
i can tell you without a doubt that is what the issue is.