- Qt Creator Manual
- Connecting Boot2Qt Devices
- Qt Creator Manual 8.0.2

Connecting Bare Metal Devices ◦ Adding Docker Devices

# Connecting Boot2Qt Devices

You can connect Boot2Qt devices to the development PC to run, debug, and analyze applications built for them from Qt Creator.

If you have a tool chain for building applications for Boot2Qt devices installed on the development PC, you can add it to Qt Creator. You can then select a kit with the Boot2Qt device type to build applications for and run them on the devices.

To be able to run and debug applications on Boot2Qt devices, you must add devices and select them in the Qt Creator kit.

## Enabling the Boot2Qt Plugin

To enable the Boot2Qt plugin:

1. Select Help > About Plugins > Device Support > Boot2Qt to enable the plugin.
2. Select Restart Now to restart Qt Creator and load the plugin.

## Adding Boot2Qt Devices

You use a wizard to create the connections. You can use either a network connection or a USB connection. If Qt Creator does not automatically detect a device you connected with USB, you can use a wizard to create a network connection to the device.

Note: On Ubuntu Linux, the development user account must have access to plugged in devices. To allow the development user access to the device via USB, create a new `udev` rule, as described in Boot2Qt: Setting Up USB Access to Embedded Devices.

You can edit the settings later in Edit > Preferences > Devices > Devices.

You can protect the connections between Qt Creator and a device by using an OpenSSH connection. OpenSSH is a connectivity tool for remote login using the SSH protocol. The OpenSSH suite is not delivered with Qt Creator, so you must download it and install it on the development PC. Then, you must configure the paths to the tools in Qt Creator. For more information, see Configuring SSH Connections.

You need either a password or an SSH public and private key pair for authentication. If you do not have an SSH key, you can use the ssh-keygen tool to create it in Qt Creator. For more information, see Generating SSH Keys.

Note: Qt Creator does not store passwords. If you use password authentication, you may need to enter the password on every connection to the device, or, if caching is enabled, at every Qt Creator restart.

To reboot the selected device, select Reboot Device.

To restore the default application to the device, select Restore Default App.

## Flashing Boot2Qt Devices

To flash the Boot2Qt image to an SD card with Flashing Wizard, select Tools > Flash Boot to Qt Device and follow the instructions of the wizard.

## Configuring Connections

To configure connections between Qt Creator and a Boot2Qt device and to specify build and run settings for the device:

1. Make sure that your device can be reached via an IP address or connect it with a USB connection.
2. Select Edit > Preferences > Kits > Qt Versions > Add to add the Qt version for Boot2Qt.
3. Select Edit > Preferences > Kits > Compilers > Add to add the compiler for building the applications.
4. Select Tools > Flash Boot to Qt Device to flash the Boot2Qt image to an SD card with Flashing Wizard.
5. To deploy applications and run them remotely on devices, specify parameters for connecting to the devices over the network (Qt Creator automatically detects devices connected with USB):
   1. Select Edit > Preferences > Devices > Devices > Add > Boot2Qt > Finish.

   2. In the Device name field, enter a name for the connection.
   3. In the Device address field, enter the host name or IP address of the device. This value will be available in the `%{Device:HostAddress}` variable.
   4. Click Next to create the connection.

      You can edit the connection parameters in the Devices tab. The wizard does not show parameters that have sensible default values. One of these is the SSH port number, which is available in the variable `%{Device:SshPort}`.

6. Select Edit > Preferences > Kits > Add to add a kit for building applications for the device. Select the Qt version, compiler, and device that you added above, and choose Boot2Qt as the device type.
7. To specify build settings:
   1. Open a project for an application you want to develop for the device.
   2. Select Projects > Build & Run to enable the kit that you specified above.
8. Select Run to specify run settings. Usually, you can use the default settings.

   When you run the project, Qt Creator deploys the application as specified by the deploy steps. By default, Qt Creator copies the application files to the device. For more information, see Specifying Run Settings for Boot2Qt Devices.

Connecting Bare Metal Devices ◦ Adding Docker Devices