RTL-SDR connection not working

Hello,

I have been attempting to install the RTL-SDR support for Matlab, but I have been running into an issue. I have previously used my RTL-SDR with the SDRSharp software, so I have already setup the driver for it and it works well with that software. I am now trying to get it to work with Matlab but I am running into problems when I attempt the setup of the communication toolbox for RTL. As soon as I start it goes into the part that looks for the driver, it seems to search and then the Zadig software pops up asking me to change the driver. In my case, since I have already setup the RTL, my options do not include the Bulk USB option, and instead it already lists the RTL2838UHIDIR and the driver it has linked to it is already the WinUSB v6.1.7600.16385. At this point I have tried to reinstall this same driver. When I get to the next step to test the connection it always fails, the Radio Name shows the RTL-SDR, but the Radio address and the Tuner show up as Not Found. In the Matlab screen I can see the message "error code -12". I have seen the suggestion to run Zadig as an admin, that did not work. I also tried running Matlab as admin and that didn't help either. At this point I don't know what else to try, and I am hoping someone else may have run into this in the past.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

[Marcin Pol]

Hi!

I've got precisely the same problem. Could anyone advice please how to tackle this issue?

[DANIEL BURZEK]

I was able to fix this by going onto the Matlab screen and typing: sdrinfo (I think that was the command anyway). For some reason it suddenly started recognizing it. I don't have a clue why this worked, but it did.

Answer 1

[sadeq ebrahimi]

I have the same problem.

I can work with sdr sharp and ... but in matlab in "Test radio connection" it fail to find SDR.

[mahdi]

Hey, were you able to fix the issue? im facing exactly the same problem and i have tried everything i could find over the internet, all in vain.

[Benjamin]

Any solution? I have same issue...

Answer 2

[Rainer Kufferath]

I have had the same Problem, it works under SDR# but not with Matlab.

At first I use the MatLab 2022 version, to run the SDR Setup, it dont work, then i try it with Matlab 2018. Here i was able to reinstall the driver (The Zadic window shows the RTL-SDR device, not only the bulk device)

Now I am able to work with my RTL SDR .

Many Greetings

Rainer (Germany , University of Krefeld)

Answer 3

[Cyril CAILHOL]

Hello,

I have the same problem.

>> sdrinfo
Error code -12

ans =

  0×0 empty cell array

Did you solve it?

Thank you for your support

Cyril

[Cyril CAILHOL]

Sorry I found the solution

https://fr.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/570523-error-on-setup-rtl-sdr-error-code-12#comment_2245100

Answer 4

[John]

If you're using an RTL-SDR v4, what worked for me is first going through the RTL-SDR Quick Start Guide then updating the dongle driver inside the files for Mathworks's Communications Toolbox Support Package for RTL-SDR Radio. In particular, I'm on Windows 11 x64, and I just replaced rtlsdr.dll at the following locations with the x64 version of the new driver:

1. C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2025a\toolbox\shared\sdr\sdrr\bin\win64\rtlsdr.dll
2. C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2025a\3P.instrset\rtlsdrradio.instrset\rtl-sdr\lib\win64\rtlsdr.dll
3. C:\ProgramData\MATLAB\SupportPackages\R2025a\3P.instrset\rtlsdrprecompiledlib.instrset\lib\rtlsdr.dll

I got my copy of the new driver from the SDR# x64 installation; note that I had to run "install-rtlsdr.bat" for the installer to download the driver first. You can also download the new driver for Windows/Linux/Mac at https://github.com/rtlsdrblog/rtl-sdr-blog.