ESP8266 Community Forum

I'm having trouble uploading the binaries to the esp8266 using windows. esptool.py is a command line interface and either I'm having trouble giving the right command or it is not compatible with win10. The esp8266 is a Wemos d1 mini. A GUI upload ( binary flash ) interface would be nice

The tool described here https://github.com/martin-ger/esp_wifi_repeater#building-and-flashing should do the job on windows.

Thank you the updated tool above solved the issue with the wemos d1.

Suppose the goal was to have a MQTT network based exclusively on esp8266 devices ( no external router).
This exclusive network would be totally independent of another network that contains a router PC's etc. ( a typical home network)
I may have this wrong but the initial configuration requires connection to a router ( the home network) and the esp8266 which is to be the broker can have a soft AP meaning it can have other esp's connect to it via this soft ap.
Can the esp broker then be moved out of range of the home network router and still function as a broker for the esp's still in range of the moved esp broker.
I'm trying to understand the dependencies like does it always have to be in range of the router need for the initial setup?
If it is out of range of the initial setup router and the esp brokers power was recycled will it endless look for the initial set up router?

You actuall don't need a home router (uplink router) at all, neither for config nor at runtime. When it boots the first time, it sets up its own open SoftAP with SSID "MyAP". Connect your computer or phone with that SSID and use a terminal program like e.g. "telnet 192.168.4.1 7777" and connect to the broker. You can also connect with serial terminal (like the Arduino IDE term) and 115200 bps.

From here you can configure the whole thing, including custom "ap_ssid" and "ap_password" for the SoftAP. You MIGHT also set "ssid" and "password" for the uplink router, but this is not required. Of course, you cannot use NTP time and MQTT-connections to the rest of the Internet without uplink. (If you don't like the regular connect failure messages on the serial, just type "set auto_connect 0" and it will stop.)

Save this config and you have a perfect stand-alone AP spanning up a network with an MQTT broker running on address 192.168.4.1.