Craft Edge

First, I'll introduce myself briefly. I often volunteer for a local theater group, to make props and scenery. When I saw an Expression for sale in a local thrift store, I figured this would be a great tool to make stencils, and even fancy foil ornamentation to apply to props. But, I soon discovered the limitations that Provo Craft has placed on their machines, and how they discontinued support, and even forbidden 3rd party solutions. Sure learned to hate the company quickly, and if I can't solve the problem with this machine, will certainly not be going to Provo Craft to get a different one of their machines.

I have run across several pages and videos discussing how to update the firmware on an Expression machine that currently has firmware 2.35, so that it can be compatible with SCAL (with the proper 3rd party printer drivers). However, none have worked.

Basically, I am at a situation where Windows doesn't seem to be installing the USB drivers. I attempted a manual update to them, and when I browsed to the \AppData\Roaming\Cricut Design Space directory. But there was not driver sub directory as the instructions said would be there. Going to the Cricut web site, I did find a "drivers" download. It was a Zip file with a directory named "Drivers". I went ahead and placed that into the \AppData\Roaming\Cricut Design Space directory.

I followed the instructions to update the USB driver, but that didn't work either. I wonder if Cricut decided to remove the USB drivers for the Expression from their support site.

Is there another place to get the USB drivers for Windows 10 and the Expression?

-Joe

I've helped several Expressions 1 owners with this issue and it's also the solution for many other cutter owners who have run into driver problems with Windows 10. Here are the steps:

(1) Unplug the USB cable if you have it plugged into your computer.
(2) Go to this link, scroll down to the table

https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm

and on the far right side you'll see "setup executable"... click on that link, download, extract, and run it.

(3) After running that file, reboot Windows and wait for Windows to fully come back up.
(4) Then connect the USB cable to your computer, turn on the cutter and wait like 15 seconds or so.
(5) Right clicking on the Windows Start button and select Device Manager.
(6) Then look for a folder called Ports… open it and it should say something like USB-Serial Com (X) where X is the chosen com port and you SHOULD be good to go. Try again from SCAL since it auto-detects.

Still not working.

First, I was a little confused about which "setup executable" to use, since the phrase occurs 4 times on the table. Then, it became apparent that I should find the one where the left column referred to windows. (i.e. the first row of the table)

I seem to have updated the USB drivers successfully. And I did reboot after that.

Then I went to Cricut Design Studio, to do the firmware update. It seemed to go OK, and just took perhaps 10 seconds after the small progress window opened up till it close. Eventually the carriage on the machine moves, and then there is a chirp. The machine screen seems to be at the normal start up screen after it has fully booted. At the bottom of Update Cricut Firmware tab, it now says "Sorry, the Cricut firmware update failed. Please start over at Step 1 to try again. I did so, with the same results.

When I start up the Cricut, it still shows the same version 2.35.

Attached is a screen shot of my Device Manager if that helps. The image was taken with the Cricut Expression booted up. I do not see the unknown device that did appear before I installed the new ftdichip drivers. -joe

At least the USB connection part is working.

Unfortunately, I don't own or support Cricuts so I can't help effectively with the firmware update issue. Roxanne Holland on one of the Cricut FB groups she moderates is the expert in resolving these issues. Her tutorial on her group says the following:

Your Expression firmware needs to be v2.34 or 2.43-
*****If your Cricut’s firmware happens to be v2.35 , you will need to downgrade it to v2.34 using the same steps with Design Studio.
Link to Design Studio trial version ( Below)
https://cricut-designstudio.software.in ... gFA3bkZEt8