        Docs/Starting Guides/Windows Flashing Guide
      

Flashing from a Windows Host

EXEC-Q911APEX-A100Windows 11qdl.exe

This page covers the Windows-specific parts of the Q911 Image Flashing Guide. The board-side steps — EDL jumper, DIP switches, cabling, and power-on — are exactly the same, so follow the main guide for those and come back here for the host-side setup, the EDL check, and the flashing command.

We recommend an Ubuntu host for the smoothest experience, but flashing from Windows 11 with qdl.exe is verified to work on the Q911 platforms.
Flashing with Qualcomm's xPCATApp GUI is also possible — we used it in our hands-on workshop — but this guide does not cover it.

Requirements

HW: x86 PC as the host.
OS: Windows 11.
Cable: USB Type-A to Type-C data cable (Type-A → host, Type-C → target). Required — flashing is not possible without it.
SW: the qdl tool and the Qualcomm USB Driver, QUD (see below).

Host Setup (one-time)

Install the qdl tool

Build qdl.exe by following the Build → Windows instructions in the qdl README; prebuilt releases are also available on the same page.

Install the Qualcomm USB Driver (QUD)

Before flashing from the command line, install the Qualcomm USB Driver. Download it from the Qualcomm Software Center (a Qualcomm account is required to sign in): open the Tools tab and search for Qualcomm USB Driver.

Verify EDL Mode

After powering on the board in EDL mode (main guide, Steps 1–3), open Device Manager and confirm the device appears as Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 under Ports.

If the device shows up with a warning icon or as an unknown device, the QUD driver is not installed — see Host Setup above.

Flash the Image

Extract the image package provided by Innodisk and verify its integrity with the bundled md5sum.txt. Run the following in PowerShell inside the image folder — every file should report OK before you continue.

PowerShellpowershell

Flash the image. Run PowerShell from the folder containing qdl.exe, replacing <IMAGE-FOLDER> with the path to your extracted image folder. The whole process takes a few minutes.

PowerShellpowershell

PowerShell does not expand the * wildcard for qdl, so every rawprogram and patch file must be listed explicitly. List all of the rawprogram*.xml and patch*.xml files that your image package contains.

After flashing completes, continue with Step 5 in the main guide to switch back to normal boot mode and boot the system.