Problems with BaseCamp / Garmin Express not reading SD cards

leedude03

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It seems of late that many people are having issue with express not finding sd card, install to pc/mac option greyed out to name just a couple.
having looked into this, it seems that garmin has altered the way express works and the options within it, and with the advent of windows 10 and its higher security this is also causing problems for some. below are a few things i have found out about this that will hopefully explain and maybe help to overcome these issues, these are posted elsewhere on the forum, but i thought it would be helpfull if they were in one place.

1 why you may not now have the option to install maps to pc/mac

the ability to download maps to your PC/mac:

The ability to install maps to the computer using Garmin Express 4.x has changed slightly.

The option to install maps to the computer when performing a reinstall is not being offered at this time if the full coverage of mapping had previously been installed to the GPS device or a SD card. A request has been made to add this functionality back to Garmin Express but until then, if maps must be installed to the computer and this is not a first time update, ie a reinstall, an earlier version of Garmin Express (3.2.x) will need to be installed on the computer to do so.

However, if you are installing the map for the first time, you can click “View Details” for the map update and select the option to install maps to the computer.

If you previously installed a smaller region and would like to install maps to the computer, this can be done by selecting “Change Map” and then going into the change region selection and choosing “use map with Garmin BaseCamp.”

You may need to install an earlier version of express before this option becomes available.



2 windows 10 security stopping install, this may or may not affect you even if it was previously installed.



So, the new Windows 10 update has increased security - a lot. It now uses cloud based technology to filter malware as well as a host of other security measures. The problem is, it now blocks any plug-in drivers from being installed if they aren't certified and installed in a specific way - which most aren't, including Garmin Express.

If you already had Garmin Express working before the Windows upgrade, it should still work, however if you try and install it after, it will still update the maps on your unit, but it won't let you install the maps on your PC; the button is "greyed out" because the plug-in has been blocked.

I've tried everything, including manually disabling all the new Windows security, cleaning Garmin Express from the computer manually and reinstalling it in admin mode - it still gets blocked

So if you find yourself in this position, I'm afraid that there is currently no solution other than to wait for the Garmin developers to release a fix (which I'm told they are working furiously on now). I managed to get a work-around by manually copying the installed maps from my laptop's internal drive to my desktop, but if you don't have multiple computers that may be a problem and it's not that easy to do if you don't know how to copy over and edit registry entries.

Hopefully this might save someone some pain anyway...

PS, I'd recommend you don't run any third-party anti-virus with the new Windows update. Normally Anti-virus disables the built-in Windows protection to prevent doubling up and the resulting problems and slow operation, but until the other vendors have caught up with the new windows structure there could be unpredictable results. Also, the built in "Defender" protection is now as good or better then third party offerings - and free, so I'd just use that


A couple of things to note, if you have the complete map set already installed on your pc/mac and you just want to put it on a new sd card or just a section of your full mapping, for whatever reason, i suggest you use mapinstall its available for mac and pc, there is no reason to use express unless you are updating maps to a newer version. you will be wasting time and bandwidth using express.

If you have had any issue with an sd card not being recognised for the reason stated above chances are that there is nothing wrong with it so dont bin it.

I do not use a mac but it has been said that when deleting stuff from the sd card you need to empty your trash before removing the card , i can not confirm why, for obvious reasons.

Lastly the web address of a place that has all the older versions of express should you wish to install an earlier version, and lots of other garmin related things. http://www.gawisp.com/perry/agree.html.

hope this info is usefull.

Can a mod move this to a more usefull part of the forum please.
 
Can a mod move this to a more usefull part of the forum please.

Thanks for writing up the help information.

Moved, as requested.

I have made it a sticky, whilst the problem persists.

Richard
 
Just updated my maps to 2019.2 on my 590 but cannot update Basecamp is this still a windows 10 security issue??

Or is there a workaround??
 
Hhhmmmm I turned off windows defender and all worked fine :rolleyes:
 


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