RKDevTool Usage

RKDevTool is a software developed by Rockchip for USB flashing on Windows/Linux/macOS platforms, designed to simplify and accelerate the development and debugging process for Rockchip series chips.

RKDevTool Installation

Windows

• Install Drivers

Download and extract the DriverAssistant v5.0 file.

Locate the DriverInstall.exe file and run it as administrator:

• To install drivers: Click the Install Driver button
• To uninstall drivers: Click the Uninstall Driver button

tip

If you have installed a different version of the driver before, please uninstall it first before installing the new one.

• Download RKDevTool

Download the RKDevTool software. After downloading, extract the files. You'll find RKDevTool.exe as the main executable. Double-click it to launch the application.

Linux

• Install rkdeveloptool

Open a terminal and run the following commands to install the necessary dependencies and compile rkdeveloptool:

Linux-host$

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev dh-autoreconf pkg-config libusb-1.0 build-essential git wget
git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool
cd rkdeveloptool
autoreconf -i
./configure
make -j $(nproc)
sudo cp rkdeveloptool /usr/local/sbin/

• Verify Installation

After installation, you can check the installed version of rkdeveloptool with the following command:

PC - Host$

rkdeveloptool -V

macOS

• Install Homebrew

Homebrew is a free and open-source package manager that simplifies the process of installing software on macOS.

If you don't have Homebrew installed, you can install it by running the following command in your terminal:

macOS-host$

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

• Install rkdeveloptool

Open Terminal and run the following commands to install the required dependencies and compile rkdeveloptool:

macOS-host$

brew install automake autoconf libusb pkg-config git wget
git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool
cd rkdeveloptool
autoreconf -i
./configure
make -j $(nproc)
cp rkdeveloptool /opt/local/sbin/

• Verify Installation

After installation, you can check the installed version of rkdeveloptool with the following command:

macOS-host$

rkdeveloptool -V

RKDevTool Usage

In Rockchip platform development, RKDevTool is a commonly used flashing tool, with Maskrom mode and Loader mode being the two key device boot modes.

tip

• Loader mode requires a valid bootloader to be present in the storage medium.
• MaskROM mode does not require a valid bootloader in the storage medium.

Maskrom/Loader Modes

We primarily recommend using RKDevTool in Maskrom mode because it allows direct flashing via USB connection, while Loader mode requires a valid bootloader to be present in the storage medium.

tip

The following instructions use the Radxa ROCK 4D as the demonstration board. Note that some products might not have a dedicated Recovery interface for entering Loader mode and might only have a Maskrom mode button.

Entering Maskrom Mode

Refer to the Hardware Use: Maskrom Button tutorial.

Entering Loader Mode

Refer to the Hardware Use: Recovery Pins tutorial.