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I'm trying to connect my Arduino Uno to the Arduino IDE in Windows, but the only way it works is with a CH340 driver.

I am concerned about this as I can only find a download of it published by two Chinese companies- wch.cn or Jiangsu Qinheng Co., Ltd.- maybe they're both 1 company; even when Windows looked for a driver on the web that was the one it downloaded.

When I went to Device Manager to look for the driver in the official Arduino download zip, Windows said it couldn't find any drivers.

I am concerned about the security implications of the driver being Chinese and wonder if there are any other CH340 drivers (unless CH stands for China...)

Anyway thx for answering!!! :)

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  • The CH340 is a Chinese knock-off of FTDI chips. That doesn't mean they are bad or that their drivers are unsafe. It's just what it is. FTDI, on their own, is trying also to "fix" their own drivers to not necessarily work well with CH340 chips. So you may be stuck with their drivers, like it or not. They are drivers and so may run at a trusted level in your computer. If you are serious about such security, then you should also consider that FTDI may be working with still other groups that also may sacrifice your security, too. There's no truly safe haven. Just the feelings of one.
    – jonk
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 5:47
  • Switch to a Mac. In macOS, the CH340 drivers are provided by Apple themselves and preinstalled on every Mac.
    – Codo
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 6:13
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    @jonk what makes you think the CH340 is a FTDI knock-off? They don't use the FTDI drivers at all.
    – cde
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 6:31
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    @Passerby Sorry. Perhaps just a difference in perspective. The CH340 showed up in "cheap" boards from China many years ago. At first, none of us understood exactly what had happened, as FTDI was pretty much the only player at first. If you google "knock-off" and "CH340" you'll see I'm not the only person in the world seeing things that way. I don't mean to belittle the device. But it was introduced in order to lower the BOM cost to some players needing an FTDI equivalent. Little doubt about that. If my words offend, my apologies. As I said, "that doesn't mean they are bad." And I meant that.
    – jonk
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 6:36
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    CH340 is immensely widely used. There may be many drivers or only a few BUT either way they are in use in the very many millions. Note that Arduino Clones are 110% legitimate. What is not meant to be used is the Arduino NAME per se. The design and system software is fully open source.
    – Russell McMahon
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 7:59

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WCH is the manufacturing company that first produced the CH340. They are Chinese.

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