Introduction

MCUXpresso Config Tools are a suite of evaluation and configuration tools that help guide users from first evaluation to production software development. This document describes how to install the MCUXpresso Config Tools software. The software is available as an online version (using a web browser) and also as a desktop application installed on the host machine. The MCUXpresso Config Tools are used for board level configuration and code-generation, including pin routing with electrical and functional property settings, clock input/output setup with graphical diagram views, and peripheral initialization with parameter validation and quick start selections.

The MCUXpresso Config Tools are for general use and aim to help hardware designers, software engineers, embedded engineers, and field application engineers (FAEs).

The MCUXpresso Config Tools support:

  • Graphical views to create and change pins, clocks, and peripherals configuration

  • Creation of C source code for device initialization that can be used in any IDE

  • Package view with all pins and routable peripherals

  • View of routed pins

  • Registers with initialization values

  • Clock diagram view with highlighted clock paths

  • Update existing IDE projects with generated C source code from pins, clocks, and peripherals

Note: If the MacOS is set to Traditional Chinese, MCUXpresso starts in English and not Chinese. This is intended.

Minimum system requirements

The following lists the minimum system requirements to install and run the software:

  • One of the following graphical operating systems:

    • Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

    • Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

      Note: Linux-hosted variants of the tools are distributed on Linux as 64-bit binaries, which may not work on 32-bit systems.

      • Supported desktop environments: GNOME

    • Mac OS X (12.x)

  • 4 GB RAM

  • Display with resolution 1366 x 768

  • Internet connection for dynamic download from processor database

Supported processors

The tool goes with limited data and the supported devices. You can download the additional supported devices later. It requires an Internet connection to get the data for the supported processors.

Limitations

Refer to the Release Notes to see the limitations.

Installation

For the desktop setup executable, there is an installer available at https://mcuxpresso.nxp.com.

The installer file is about 290 MB in size and includes all the files required for the setup and does not need a connection to the Internet during installation. You can use this method for slow network connections or for installing the software on multiple machines.

Missing device information files are downloaded from the Internet when loading a configuration into the tool.

Installing on Windows

A setup binary is available for Microsoft Windows:

  • 64-bit version: Contains “x64” in the installer executable name.

Running a non-matching executable for a given host system, for example a 64-bit setup on a 32-bit system, will give an error message dialog.

To install MCUXpresso Config Tools as a desktop application on a local host:

  1. Run the MCUXpresso_Config_Tools_<version>_<architecture>.exe.

    The MCUXpresso Config Tools Setup wizard initiates.

  2. Select the language in which you want to run the installer.

    _images/1.png

    Select the Setup Language

  3. Click Next.

  4. On the next page, click Next.

  5. On the End-User License Agreement page of the wizard, select I accept the terms of the License Agreement.

    _images/licence_agreement.png

    Accepting the End-user License Agreement

  6. Click Next.

  7. On the Select Installation Folder page of the wizard, select Browse and navigate to a destination folder you want the MCUXpresso Config Tools to install to.

    _images/select_installation_folder.png

    Select Installation Folder

  8. Click Next.

  9. On the Configure Shortcuts page of the wizard, select the shortcuts you want to be created for MCUXpresso Config Tools for.

    _images/5.png

    Configure Shortcuts

  10. Click Next.

  11. On the Ready to Install page of the wizard, select Install.

    _images/6.png

    Ready to Install

    The setup will begin the installation.

    Note: If you want to review or change any of your installation settings, click Back. Click Cancel to exit the wizard.

    The installer prompts you when the installation completes.

    _images/7.png

    Installing MCUXpresso Config Tools

  12. Click Finish to close and exit the setup wizard.

    _images/8.png

    Complete installation

  13. To start using the MCUXpresso Config Tools, run the tool from the shortcut on the desktop or from the Start menu. You can also navigate to the \bin\ folder and launch the tools.exe or launch the shortcut in the .

Installing on Mac

To install MCUXpresso Config Tools as a desktop application on a local host:

  1. Click the MCUXpresso_Config_Tools_<version>_<architecture>.pkg.

    The Install MCUXpresso Config Tools setup initiates and the Introduction page appears.

    Note: You may receive an error when trying to open the MacOS installer. To avoid it, manually select the option Mac App Store and identified developers from the Security & Privacy menu.

    _images/screenshot-mac-1.png

    Introduction

  2. Click Continue.

    The License page appears.

    _images/licence_agreement_mac.png

    License

    Note: To install MCUXpresso Config Tools, agree to the terms of the software license agreement.

    _images/screenshot-mac-3.png

    Software license agreement

  3. Click Continue.

    The Installation Type page appears.

    _images/installation_type_mac.png

    Installation Type

  4. Click Install.

    The Installation page appears.

  5. Type in your login credentials to continue with the installation.

  6. Click Install Software.

    _images/screenshot-mac-5.png

    Install Software

    _images/install_sw_mac.png

    Install Software

  7. Click Continue.

    The Summary page prompts that the installation was successfully completed.

    _images/screenshot-mac-6.png

    Summary

  8. Click Close to exit the installation wizard.

Installing on Linux

This section provides the details of installation of MCUXpresso Configuration Tools on Linux.

Installing using command line

 chmod +x ./<name><version>-<pkg_revision><architecture>.deb.bin
$ sudo ./<name>_<version>-<pkg_revision>_<architecture>.deb.bin
(Reading database ... .... files and directories currently installed .)
Preparing to replace <name> <version> (using
<name>_<version>-<pkg_revision>_<architecture>.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement <name> ...
Setting up <name> (<version>) ...

This installs the tools to the default location (/opt/nxp/<default_path>).

Uninstalling using command line

In the Terminal, you can get the list of MCUX Config Tools with the package names.

dpkg --list "mcuxpresso-config-tools*"
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                        Version      Architecture Description
+++-===========================-============-============-=================================
ii  mcuxpresso-config-tools-v16 16.0         amd64        MCUXpresso Config Tools

Now, the desired version can be uninstalled:

 sudo dpkg -r mcuxpresso-config-tools-v16

Note about the source code in the document

Example code shown in this document has the following copyright and BSD-3-Clause license:

Copyright 2026 NXP Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials must be provided with the distribution.

  3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Revision history

Revision history

Document ID

Release date

Description

KEXTIUG v.15.0

25 March 2026

Updated for v.26.03

KEXTIUG v.14.0

16 December 2025

Updated for v.25.12

KEXTIUG v.13.0

18 September 2025

Updated for v.25.09

KEXTIUG v.12.0

20 June 2025

Updated for v.25.06

KEXTIUG v.11.0

17 March 2025

Updated for v.25.03

KEXTIUG v.10.0

15 January 2025

Updated for v.24.12

KEXTIUG v.9.0

24 September 2024

Updated for v.16.1

KEXTIUG v.8.0

1 July 2024

Updated for v.16

KEXTIUG v.7.0

19 April 2024

Updated for v.15.1

KEXTIUG v.6.0

10 January 2024

Updated for v.15

KEXTIUG v.5.0

31 July 2023

Updated for v.14

KEXTIUG v.4.0

2 January 2023

Screenshots are updated, minor updates

KEXTIUG v.3.0

20 September 2022

Updated for v.12.1

KEXTIUG v.2.0

30 June 2022

Updated for v.12

KEXTIUG v.1.0

22 December 2021

Screenshots are updated.

KEXTIUG v.0

23 June 2021

Initial version