How To Flash Firmware to the CR6 printer
WAIT! If you prefer to watch videos - you might prefer to go here, instead:** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfDSKnF0RNcYDkxM5mYtyuvlTfMAMD-Nr
NO, WAIT!! If your intention is to install the Community Firmware to "try", expecting to be able to revert to Creality stock firmware if you change your mind, please read the last section on this page first! We cannot guarantee that there will be a way to revert your printer to the "as-received" condition.
Creality has delivered multiple variants of CR6 printer and they do not all work with the same pre-compiled Community firmware. Some of the modifications you make to your printer may also require you to compile your own "flavour" of this firmware.
Only you - the owner-operator of your printer - can determine with confidence to which machine you are flashing. If you can not make this determination with confidence, you should not try to flash any firmware to your printer. You may instead just render your printer unuseable...
e.g. Kickstarter CR6-SE printers were delivered with Creality v1.x firmware and a DGUS2 kernel which they did not include on the SD card and copies of which have not been found online. If you flash the DGUS kernel upgrade files to such a printer, there may be no road back to restore those printers to stock.
You probably know this one - CR6 is available in two models:
- CR6-SE
- CR6-MAX
Yes, you probably have to open the control board case to inspect the board for this one.
See this page for more details: How To Identify the Motherboard in your CR6 Printer
You can skip the following sections talking about DWIN displays - they do not apply to you.
If you have a DWIN TFT display: identify the version of DGUS2 kernel currently installed on your display
Approximately December 2021, Creality started delivering CR6 printers with displays flashed with DGUS2* v4.5 or higher. (*DGUS2 is the operating system on the DWIN Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) display.)
Creality makes no mention of this change in their documentation or support pages, but you need to know before you flash the Touchscreen firmware,
- The Touchscreen firmware bundled in with the Community Firmware at versions 6.1-Final and prior is NOT compatible with DGUS2 variants other than v3.5.
- Flashing v3.5 kernel "upgrade" files to a screen previously flashed with DGUS2 v4.5 requires additional steps to recalibrate the display and going back to stock gets even more complicated.
Much easier all-around to just figure out what you are modifying, before you start.
As mentioned above, Kickstarter CR6-SE printers were delivered with Creality v1.x firmware and a DGUS2 kernel which they did not include on the SD card and copies of which have not been found online. If you flash the DGUS kernel upgrade files to such a printer, there may be no road back to restore it to stock.
You need to make an informed decision about whether or not to flash DGUS2 v3.5 kernel upgrade files to your display, based on this quick test:
- Find a microSD card
- Partition the card per the Master Boot Record (MBR) standard (DOS mode on a MAC) (GUID Partition Table (GPT) will not work with the display.)
- Format the card to FAT32, with 4096 allocation unit (sector) size. (This requires a partition size of 16GB or less)
- Create an EMPTY directory in the root of the card, named DWIN_SET
- With power off, insert that card into the microSD slot on the display PCB (You'll need to take the back off the display case, to find it.)
- Taking care not to short the PCB to anything, switch power on.
- If the display can read your card, the screen will turn blue, the version number of DGUS2 OS currently installed on your display will be written in white across the top of the screen. (Write that down or take a picture, for future reference.)
- You can ignore the other info on the screen.
- Power-off
- Remove the microSD card
- Either:
- put the display case back together, if you need to take a time-out, or
- continue to the next steps, if you now intend to flash the Community Firmware.
DO NOT install the Touchscreen firmware bundled with the Community Firmware .zip file. Download instead the REFACTORED Touchscreen firmware from the CR6Community/CR-6-touchscreen Repository, and follow those README instructions precisely.
You can safely install the Touchscreen firmware in the applicable Community Firmware .zip file, BUT you should first try doing so without installing the kernel upgrade files. We expect it to work, and it will save you looking for the DGUS2 bin files later, if you decide to revert to the stock firmware. BUT: If it does NOT work, use the REFACTORED Touchscreen firmware instead! (See previous section)
You can safely follow the readme instructions bundled with the Touchscreen firmware in the applicable Community Firmware .zip file.
Look for the latest pre-compiled firmware specifically configured for your variant in the Releases section of the Community/Marlin repository
The Marlin software on which the CF is based requires that some configuration "switches" be set before compiling the firmware. The Community Firmware developers maintain a limited set of basic Community Firmware configurations in the Releases section of the repository.
If you have a modified printer that needs an unsupported configuration, you will need instead to learn how to compile your own firmware.
BUT remember that those files were released BEFORE Creality changed the game by flashing DGUS2 v4.5 or higher, to their displays, so REMEMBER to follow the applicable instructions above, based on which DGUS2 you have on yours!
Well, as they say, "We are sorry to see you "go"."
Frankly, the Community Firmware Developers can not ensure that you have a path back to stock, if/when Creality flash their printers with files that they do not release on their own support website...
Creality does not include any DGUS2 kernel files in their distributions, but we have feedback from users that suggests this version of Creality stock firmware does run on the CR6 after flashing the printer with CF6.1-Final and the v3.5 kernel upgrade files:
https://img.staticdj.com/0169cd61ccd233c7ba9c501dec15228b.zip
CAUTION: There are multiple versions of firmware in that zip file
The pair marked "9-language" version 2.1.0.8 have been confirmed to work with DGUS2v3.5 and a 4.5.3/1.1.0.3 motherboard. (ignore the .7z file in that folder.)
