When I use the command, I keep getting "access denied". I am using Windows 7 on a new computer. Does anyone know what is going on? I searched microsoft website and tried all that I found and nothing is working.

What command??

Most problems I've seen like this result in permission settings in Windows.

Try un-installing then re-installing as described below.

1st thing I'd recommend if you didn't do it, is when installing any of the programming packages such as WINAVR, make sure to right click and select "run as administrator" to install.

Make sure your "Code" folder is in a location you have full access to such as your documents folder.

After you've installed WINAVR, even thought it doesn't tell you to, re-boot your PC. WINAVR adds to the PATH environment variable and this may not take full effect without a re-boot.

If you install as described above, and you still have problems, let us know, there are always friendly people here more than willing to give a helping hand. Be as detailed as possible when asking for help, that will give us more to go on.

Hope that helped out,

Rick

Thank you for the suggestions. I apologize if I didn't give enough info on the first attempt. I tried what you suggested and I am still having problems, so I will try and explain a little better. This is where I am at in the nerdkits guide.

Page 43 Step 10c – Compile and Install your first program

1. Now that you have seen the code, we need to use the command line to program the chip.
2. Open up the command line and navigate to the folder with the code in it.
3. List the files in the directory and make sure there is a file called Makefile.
4. Type “make” and press enter to run the “make” command. This command will look for the Makefile and use it to compile all the code, and will then program the chip using the binary files. (If you want to learn more about Makefiles, go to http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/Make/ .)
5. You should see an output on the command line telling you what the program is doing.
6. If all goes well, one of the last lines should read “avrdude: --- bytes of flash verified” where --- is some number. This means that avrdude has successfully written the program onto the chip, and read it back. Congratulations! You have

This is where I am getting stuck. When I open the command prompt by clicking "start >accessories >command prompt", and type "cd.." and press enter I can navigate up the folders. When I type "cd<microcontroller" and hit enter it says "access is denied". ("Microcontroller" is the folder that I have all the stuff downloaded from the site for the controller, code and all.) My "microcontroller" folder is located in the documents library as suggested. I run everything as administrator like suggested. I searched everywhere and can't figure out how to release the folders. Maybe I am not typing in the correct command or something. I am pretty new to this stuff. I am typing stuff in just like in the "".

Thank you for the help and I hope I am explaining things better.

Joeboo359

I figured out what I was doing wrong. It was the way I was typing in the commands. I was putting the "<" in the command when all I needed was a space between cd and my folder name. Thank you for your help. Sorry if I wasted to much of your time. I feel like a complete idiot.

No problem, the only bad question is the one not asked. Glad to hear you figured it out!

Rick