
K1EL K45 CW Keyboard and Reader Manual K45B
K45 User’s Manual – Rev B.0
3/8/2023
Page 38
Appendix D - Installing a CH340 USB Driver for the K45
As mentioned, don’t plug your K45B in yet, we have to deal with the USB driver first. Unlike other
K1EL keyers, the K45 uses the CH340 USB interface instead of FTDI. We find this interface to be
very reliable and equal to or better than FTDI.
For Windows, first thing to do is create a folder on your PC called CH340 or something similar, the name
doesn’t really matter. Then download CH341SER.exe and Windows-CH340-Driver.zip from
https://www.k1elsystems.com/WKminiRevB.html
and copy them into the new folder. Unzip the Windows-
CH340-Driver.zip file.
Now plug WKmini into your PC and wait to see if Windows Update will automatically search for a USB
driver. This usually doesn’t happen, but if it does click Skip obtaining driver….
Windows will then look on your local hard drive for the driver and will install it automatically.
If Windows Update did not start, simply run CH341SER.exe and this dialog box will be displayed:
Click Install and after a few minutes, the following message box will display:
Now the PC is ready to operate as a USB host mode and communicate in Export GUI, WinKeyer, Dump
Display Window, or firmware update mode.