# My esp8266 is not connecting to my laptop and port is not showing

**URL:** <https://community.sparkfun.com/t/my-esp8266-is-not-connecting-to-my-laptop-and-port-is-not-showing/61199>\
**Category:** Other\
**Created:** [October 13, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/my-esp8266-is-not-connecting-to-my-laptop-and-port-is-not-showing/61199 "2024-10-13T16:20:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Edward1](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/sparkfun/user_avatar/community.sparkfun.com/edward1/32/8959_2.png) [@Edward1](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/Edward1)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/my-esp8266-is-not-connecting-to-my-laptop-and-port-is-not-showing/61199/1 "2024-10-13T16:20:54Z")

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I trying to connect my esp8266 to my laptop(windows IOS) but when ever I plug in the board, the port does not show on the Arduino IDE.

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**Author:** ![paulvha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@paulvha](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/paulvha)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/my-esp8266-is-not-connecting-to-my-laptop-and-port-is-not-showing/61199/2 "2024-10-13T16:26:20Z")

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If you have an ESP8266 thing, the USB connector is ONLY for power. YOu need to connect and FTDI to the serial connector and another USB cable to make the serial connection. [ESP8266 Thing Hookup Guide - SparkFun Learn](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/esp8266-thing-hookup-guide)