# Install ESP32 Filesystem Uploader in Arduino IDE **URL:** \ **Category:** IDE 2.x\ **Created:** [December 4, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810 "2023-12-04T22:13:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bdk622001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bdk622001](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/bdk622001)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/1 "2023-12-04T22:13:52Z")
I have followed the installation steps correctly, why is it not displayed in the tools section: "ESP32 Sketch Data Upload" ? I have performed a reset of the Arduino IDE. I use arduino IDE version 2.2.1 ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/original/4X/9/d/c/9dce2b61b0d9cd6d0ec677a2ce304111746a40c0.png) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/original/4X/5/d/f/5dfb27b8506de7e8086a4f2cc83cf22d476dde59.png) ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/original/4X/3/7/0/370dd5862a19c7547f6be0ef18b1c21a54e3d288.png) ---
**Author:** ![ptillisch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@ptillisch](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/ptillisch)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 4:08am UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/2 "2023-12-05T04:08:11Z")
Hi @bdk622001. Arduino IDE 2.x is a complete rewrite of the Arduino IDE on a different framework and in a new language. The ["Tools" system](https://github.com/arduino/Arduino/blob/master/build/shared/tools/howto.txt) of Arduino IDE 1.x used by the Tool (AKA "plugin") you were using with the old IDE is very specific to the Java language that version series of Arduino IDE was written in, so it was not possible to add support for Arduino IDE 1.x Tools to Arduino IDE 2.x. Full support for making equivalent (and even better) expansions on the default capabilities of Arduino IDE [was recently added](https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide/pull/2110) to Arduino IDE. However, it will still be necessary for the community to create Arduino IDE 2.x extensions to replace the Arduino IDE 1.x tools, and as far as I know nobody has done that yet for the ESP32 filesystem upload tools (though [it has now been done for the ESP8266 and RP2040 microcontrollers](https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-littlefs-upload) so there is reason to hope it might happen sometime in the near future). For now, the most simple solution is to use Arduino IDE 1.x when you need to upload a filesystem to your ESP32 board. The download links for Arduino IDE 1.x are listed here: [https://www.arduino.cc/en/software#legacy-ide-18x](https://www.arduino.cc/en/software#legacy-ide-18x) You can have Arduino IDE 1.x and 2.x installed at the same time without any problems, so if you prefer Arduino IDE 2.x you can continue to use it except for when you need to use the tool to upload a filesystem. ## Alternative Solution An alternative solution is to use command line tools to directly upload filesystems to your ESP32. Under the hood, what the [" **ESP32 sketch data upload**" Tool](https://github.com/me-no-dev/arduino-esp32fs-plugin) does is: 1. Generate a SPIFFS filesystem image from the contents of the `data` subfolder of your sketch. 2. Upload the filesystem to the ESP32 board. It does these things using two command line tools: - [**mkspiffs**](https://github.com/igrr/mkspiffs) - [**esptool**](https://github.com/espressif/esptool) So instead of using the "ESP32 sketch data upload" Tool from Arduino IDE, you can just work directly with those two tools from the command line terminal. There is some information on that here: > **[SPIFFS Filesystem - ESP32 - — ESP-IDF Programming Guide v5.5.1 documentation](https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/api-reference/storage/spiffs.html)** ---
**Author:** ![sterretje](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/sterretje/32/391294_2.png) [@sterretje](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/sterretje)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 4:08am UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/3 "2023-12-05T04:08:53Z")
To my knowledge the authors of the tool need to rewrite their tools to work with IDE 2.x; I do not know what the status of that exercise is. IDE 1.x was based on java, IDE 2.x is not. OK, @ptillisch did beat me to it and with far more details. ---
**Author:** ![svenvandevelde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@svenvandevelde](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/svenvandevelde)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 6:35am UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/4 "2023-12-19T06:35:13Z")
Sorry but I've been there too .. probably this feedback is correct but totally unusable for novice users. Can some time be iinvestef to build an upload tool that works? ---
**Author:** ![ptillisch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@ptillisch](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/ptillisch)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/5 "2024-04-20T13:55:46Z")
> [@ptillisch](#): > > as far as I know nobody has done that yet for the ESP32 filesystem upload tools Good news, everyone! Support for uploading filesystems to ESP32 boards has now been added to the " **arduino-littlefs-upload**" extension I mentioned earlier in the thread: > **[GitHub - earlephilhower/arduino-littlefs-upload: Build and uploads LittleFS...](https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-littlefs-upload)** > > Build and uploads LittleFS filesystems for the Arduino-Pico RP2040, ESP8266, and ESP32 cores under Arduino IDE 2.2.1 or higher - earlephilhower/arduino-littlefs-upload ---
**Author:** ![system](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/arduino/user_avatar/forum.arduino.cc/system/32/1140315_2.png) [@system](https://forum.arduino.cc/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://forum.arduino.cc/t/install-esp32-filesystem-uploader-in-arduino-ide/1196810/6 "2024-10-17T13:56:44Z")
Closed on October 17, 2024, 1:56pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.