(This is my first post so sorry if its in the wrong place)
I have updated my drivers, used many different usb cables, and I have looked all over the internet for an answer.
Is there anything I'm doing wrong or is there something I am not doing right?
Welcome to the forum
Which Arduino board do you have ?
ATmega32u4
The board is also red, is that normal?
Hi @shipy. Did you always have this problem, or did it occur after you had previously been able to upload sketches to the board successfully?
That is not a board. That is a microcontroller. It will be useful for us to know which board you have. If you don't know the name of the board, you can post a link to where you bought it from.
Assuming that you don't mean that it's red because it's hot and the flames are coming out, official SparkFun Pro Micros are red. Clones can have any colour; I have a pink Micro clone 
Please provide the exact details of the board; if it's a Pro Micro, is it a 8MHz or a 16MHz version?
This is the exact link I got the micro controller from https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5H78BP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also I did not know there was a difference between the board and the micro controller, thank you. Also I got the board yesterday and when I plugged it in it said something like com3 not found, I updated the driver then checked device manger and it said that the USB is unknown
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5H78BP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1 this is where I got it
Thanks for the clarification. The Pro Micro clones are nice little boards. Hopefully we can help you get yours up and running.
It is possible that is some other device one your computer (I have something like that on my recently purchased computer and still haven't figured out what it is), so the first thing to do is verify it is definitely the Pro Micro board.
Please try this:
If the "unknown" device comes and goes as you connect and disconnect the board then you will know that it is indeed the Pro Micro board.
Please comment here to let us know what you find.
I remember when I last tried switching out the USB cables the "unknown USB" came and went.
I shouldn't post this because I don't have an Arduino with me right now...
But, look under Ports (COM & LPT).
It should show-up as a COM port and it probably shows-up as a USB device too.
...I assume you're on Windows?
Due to the USB stack running on the same ATmega32U4 microcontroller as your sketch on the Pro Micro, it is possible for code in your sketch to break the USB functionality, which can lead to the sort of error you report. We don't expect this to occur out of the box, but when it comes to cheap Chinese clones, all bets are off.
Fortunately, the program that handles uploads (bootloader) is stored in a separate section of memory and can not be broken by the sketch code.
The only tricky thing is that the bootloader has to be activated at just the right time during the upload. Normally this is done by some special code that runs in the background of your sketch code recognizing a 1200 baud connection as the signal to reset the microcontroller and start the bootloader. However, in your current situation, that system won't work so you'll need to manually reset the board to activate the bootloader.
You need to get the timing right. If you do the reset too early, the bootloader will have already timed out by the time the upload starts. The tricky thing is that when you press the "Upload" button in Arduino IDE, it first compiles your sketch before starting the actual upload. So you need to wait until after the compilation finishes before resetting the board.
Try this:
Sketch uses 444 bytes (1%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30720 bytes.
Global variables use 9 bytes (0%) of dynamic memory, leaving 2039 bytes for local variables.
Maximum is 2048 bytes.
After that, the sketch should upload successfully, the board's port should now be recognized by your computer, and you should be able to upload normally from then on.
- UPDATE -
Under Ports I see Arduino Uno (COM3).
Nothing changes in my USB list when I plug-in the Arduino so it's not showing up there.
I'm running Windows 11 and an "old" version of the Arduino IDE (1.8.19).
I'm pretty sure I didn't have to install the FTDI driver separately. I just installed the IDE and it worked.
Were you able to upload the sketch to the board?
About your picture: did you solder those pin headers on the board? I can't see from the picture, but that approach makes me think maybe you only poked the headers through the holes on the board without soldering. If so, you aren't going to get reliable electrical connections and there is no guarantee the board was even reset.
No... I don't have a solder, I was hoping to use a breadboard. I do have a female-female wire I could try to attach though.
I have another board (the package came with 3), what can I do to prevent the problem from happening again?
Don't worry about preventing it. There are many different ways your sketch code can break or disable the USB functionality on the native USB boards like the Pro Micro. In some cases it is the result of a bug, but in other cases it is the expected result (for example, if your code puts the microcontroller to sleep to save power).
The important thing is to learn how to recover the board from this state by doing the manual reset technique. Now that you have learned that, you don't need to worry about it anymore.
