Documentation
Development
Rockbox Utility
Latest Release:
Windows (2000 / XP / Vista / 7)
OS X (10.4, 10.5, 10.6)
This is the automated installer tool for Rockbox. A quickstart guide can be found at
-- this only covers first time installation, but should give you a fairly good idea how it works. If you have any problems, please read the
and issues list on
page before reporting any bugs!
Having issues with Rockbox Utility? Please check the frequently asked questions
page before asking for help.
This section lists all features Rockbox Utility currently has.
Bootloader installation
Rockbox installation
Fontpack installation
Theme installation
Game files installation (i.e. freedoom)
Accessibility
Install voice file (from the webpage)
Create voicefile
Create .talk clips
Uninstallation
Uninstall bootloader
Uninstall Rockbox (partial, or full)
Access to the Manual of your device
Shows all installed parts of Rockbox
Rockbox Utility is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Please note the following:
Older versions of Windows (e.g. 9X, ME) are not supported -- Rockbox Utility uses some windows functionality that has been added starting with 2000. Rockbox Utility runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7.
Rockbox Utility is built as a universal application on Mac OS X. It requires at least OS X 10.4 "Tiger", and will run on either PPC or Intel Macs.
For Linux, any modern distro should work.
Linux (32 bit x86)
Linux (64 bit x86)
Note: if the links in the table do not link to the latest version the binaries haven't been uploaded yet. Do not file bug reports against such a case, the release process involves multiple people and thus can take a while.
You can browse all available downloads starting at
We do not provide binary packages of Rockbox Utility except the binaries in the table above. If you maintain a package for a distribution you can add it to the table below. If you do so please update the table when updating the package. Thanks.
WARNING: we do not support these packages!
Arch Linux
rbutil is available in the [community] repository
use the ebuild at
in a local overlay
available via
repository. See also
on how to install it.
Known issues
The following is a list of known issues in the current release, v1.3.1:
isn't supported. The e200R's bootloader install differs from the e200's.
Please do not report bugs here -- this list is intended to hold known and verified issues. For reporting bugs please use the
as this also allows us to get back into contact with you.
Known accessibility issues
The following is a list of known accessibility issues in v1.2.3:
Tabwidgets don't speak the Tabtitle. Workaround: Use the Actions menu
Messageboxes don't speak their content.
Spinboxes and Comboboxes don't speak their content on changes. Workaround for Comboboxes: open the combobox with "space" before changing with "up/down"
First item in a menubar isnt voiced.
Screenshots
some screenshot of
looks similar on all platforms due to the used toolkit. The appearance follows the settings of your operating system. Note: Theming is done by Qt using plugins, which has limitations with statically linked binaries. The binaries provided on this page are statically linked for your convenience, this means that when using a theme that is not part of Qt it won't get loaded and might result in a different look than your desktop. This issue usually only appears on Linux.
Main Window (Windows 7)
Configuration Dialog(Windows 7, german translation)
Theme selection Dialog(Linux)
Talkfile creation dialog(Mac OS X)
Change Log
Bug fixes are marked with a . Improvements are marked with a .
git (upcoming release)
(all) Fix crash when detecting a supported player in MTP mode.
1.4.0 (new player detection) - released
(all) Rework player detection functionality to provide better results.
(all) Limit mountpoints ("Select your device in the filesystem") in configuration dialog to usable ones.
(all) Change encoder volume configuration to allow more sensible values.
(all) Save proxy password differently in configuration file (better solution for ).
(all) Add support for building Rockbox Utility with Qt5.
(all) Add support for extracting Original Firmware files compressed with CAB ().
(all) Add support for Creative Zen X-Fi3 ().
(all) Add Changelog window.
(all) Rework System Trace functionality.
(all) Add support for H300 v1.31K firmware.
(all) Add support for Clip Zip v01.01.21 firmware.
1.3.1 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Fix first time installation always trying to install the bootloader on devices without a bootloader.
(all) Fix problem with generating talk files ().
(all) Fix manual URLs not getting updated properly on device change.
(w32) Add button to safely eject the player.
(w32) Add support for MS Speech Platform.
1.3.0 (no more Quickstart release) - released
(all) Fix crash in mkimxboot based bootloader patching, caused by changes in mkimxboot.
(Linux, OS X) Fix command line espeak and flite failing on "-inf" voice string
(all) Fix talkfile dialog not remembering additional options ().
(all) Fix bootloader file not found in zip archive in some cases.
(all) Add missing bootloader filenames for c200v2.
(all) Support retrieving voice strings from installation (only available for )
(all) Allow selecting multiple folders when generating talkfiles.
(all) Support installing official release candidate builds.
(all) Add dedicated backup dialog. Backup functionality will archive the .rockbox folder on the player into a zip file, allowing to easily restore it later (Rockbox Utility doesn't support restoring yet, but this is as simple as extracting a zip)
(all) add Ipod Classic (disabled in the configuration)
(all) replace Quick Start and Extras tab with a completely reworked Installation tab
(all) rework selected device display in main dialog and display player icon.
1.2.14 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Fix some development build git version numbers being recognized as release, leading to the wrong fonts / manual being downloaded.
(all) Fix HTML manual download link.
(all) H100, H300: don't silently fail to copy the firmware to the file if a firmware file is already present.
(all) Fix "no mountpoint given" when preselected mountpoint wasn't changed.
(all) Remove & and & from voice strings. Fixes problems with SAPI creating empty files, resulting in voicefile generation to fail.
(all) Check result of copy operation during bootloader installation, which could fail silently (all players that use "file" and "mi4" bootloader installation)
(all) Fix a problem extracting zip files ()
(all) Enabled support for MPIO HD200 and HD300
(all) Add missing languages basque and english-us for voicefile generation
(all) Use filter in file chooser dialog when opening original firmware file (all players that require an original firmware file during bootloader installation)
(all) Remove support for archived builds (previously "daily") and voice files. Users should install a development build instead, and voice files can be created with Rockbox Utility.
1.2.13 (bugfix release) - released
(w32) Fix bootloader installation for Fuze+ "crashing".
(all) Fix crash when dismissing the encoder properties with "Ok" when libmp3lame is not found.
(all) Fix wrong URLs when downloading the manual (, regression from ).
(all) Handle git version information of an installed build correctly via rockbox-info.txt. Fixes font pack download failing.
(w32) Fix syncronisation problem with SAPI voice generation causing voicefile generation to fail ().
1.2.12 (bugfix release) - released
(all) support for mkimxboot bootloader installation (used by Fuze+)
(all) Support enabled for
(all) recognize Ipod Nano 6G as unsupported device
(w32, linux) use libmp3lame for encoding voice clips for Archos devices. Huge speedup on Windows, small speedup on Linux (currently not enabled for OS X)
(all) support reading original firmware files in zip format.
(all) Boot Rockbox on USB insert rather then the Sandisk firmware on ClipV2, FuzeV2, Clip+, and Clip Zip.
(all) Includes mkamsboot 1.6 to fix installing on some hardware variants of the Clip V2.
(all) wavtrim (silence threshold) setting value was ignored when creating voicefiles.
(all) remove multithreading support for voicefile / talkfile generation to fix generation problems (). Note: this intentionally slows down generation!
1.2.11 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Proxy username / password caused problems when containing colon and at signs ()
(all) Gigabeat F/X bootloader uninstallation stopped with an error saying it's not supported.
(all) Manual URL was wrong in some cases ().
(all) Support Newer Sandisk Clip+ firmware.
(all) Mountpoint selection has been reworked and now shows more information.
(all) support for voicefile string corrections (like voice.pl does). This is currently limited to a fixed list of corrections and voicefile creation and can be disabled in the TTS configuration.
(all) changing the application language doesn't require a restart anymore.
(w32) improve window icon for high resolutions (large icons in Vista / W7 taskbar)
(all) add support for
GoGear SA9200 (currently disabled)
Sansa Fuze+ (currently disabled)
Sansa Clip Zip (currently disabled)
1.2.10 (bugfix release) - released
(w32) use different build setup to work around NVDA, probably other screen readers, not speaking the UI anymore ()
(all) Add slovak to languages ()
(all) Support an optional build ID in version handling.
1.2.9 (bugfix release) - released
(all) fix Sansa c200v2 not showing up in the device selection dialog
(OS X) fix a crash on proxy detection ().
(all) fix encoding issue in System Log.
(all) replace OSDaB zip with QuaZip. Fixes zip file created with recent tools not extracting properly without notice (iLike theme is known to be affected).
(w32) workaround for sporadic failures when creating voicefile on Windows with SAPI voices.
(w32) correct the default speed value for SAPI TTS to be unusable
(all) improve automatic language preselection (in case no language has been set explicitly) in voice file creation dialog
(all) improve feedback during TTS test
(all) add latvian to languages for voicefile creation
(all) show item for detected player in bold in the configuration dialog
(all) add support for
Philips GoGear HDD16x0, HDD18x0, and HDD63x0 series
MPIO HD300 (currently disabled)
1.2.8 (bugfix release) - released
(all) fix regression in Rockbox Utility version check (appearing on 64bit Linux) ()
(all) merge Ipod Video 64MB and 32MB builds.
(OS X) Use IOKit for USB enumeration instead of libusb
(OS X) Add option to build Intel only binaries (default is still fat binaries)
(all) Add support for some Fuze V2 and Clip+ hardware revisions that could not be patched due to changed firmware format
1.2.7 (bugfix release) - released
(all) fix proxy support getting initialized too late, resulting in error messages on startup ().
(all) Distinguish between release and daily build when installing voice file and fonts. Fixed file mismatches ().
(linux) Fix a crash on USB detection ().
(all) Multicore support for TTS and encoders ()
(all) improve detection of new
version (false positive was showing up on Mac only).
(all) handle Rockbox install versions when installing themes. Fixes incompatible themes getting installed after the recent theme syntax change.
(all) new targets support
Sansa Fuze v2
MPIO HD200 () (disabled)
1.2.6 (bugfix release) - released
(all) fix bootloader installation problem for H10 (might occur on m:robe 100 ).
(all) fix manual download links for H10.
(OSX) fix voice and talk file creation on PPC
(OSX) support for Speech Synthesis Manager
(OSX) support system proxy values retrieval
(all) rename the binary from "rbutilqt" to "RockboxUtility".
(linux) replace bitmap icon with svg version ().
(all) new targets
sansa clip+
Packard Bell Vibe500
Toshiba Gigabeat S (disabled)
1.2.5 (bugfix release) - released
(w32) ipod bootloader install was broken
(OSX) released binary was wrongly built.
(all) allow showing disabled targets in configuration dialog
1.2.4 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Support for 2nd generation Ipod Nano
(all) Support for Cowon D2 () (currently disabled)
(all) The language selected for talkfile creation overwrote the system language
(all) Change layout direction according to language
(all) Detect Ipod 64MB
(OSX) Fix WinPod misdetected as MacPod on OS X ().
(OSX) Fix bootloader installation for Sansa players.
(OSX) Wait for the system to remount the player after bootloader installation. Fixes small / complete installation writing data to the wrong location ().
1.2.3 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Talkfile window: don't overwrite the current selected path with the previous value when changing settings from the dialog directly ().
(all) (preliminary) support for Samsung YH-820, YH-920 and YH-925 (). (currently disabled)
(all) (preliminary) support for Sansa AMS models (e200v2, fuze, m200v4, clip). (). (m200v4 and clip currently disabled)
(all) (preliminary) support for
models (Onda VX747(+), VX777). ().(currently disabled)
(all) log internal state add possibility to save it upon error from the log window, and (regardless of an error occured) view and save it from the menu.
(all) don't internally select a player model if an unsupported player is detected.
(all) Festival TTS handling was broken in version 1.2.2
(all) new option to ignore specific files for .talkfile generation
(all) Rockbox Utility didn't properly follow redirects on the server
(all) Add check for new Rockbox Utility version at startup
(all) update several URLs to match the new locations after the server move.
(all) Rockbox Utillity could not generate voice files for releases.
1.2.2 (bugfix release) - released
(all) UI for Encoder and TTS settings was reworked ().
(all) Bootloader installation now respects the selected mountpoint when installing the bootloader on ipod and sansa players ().
(all) fix a segfault on exit when bootloader installation was called multiple times (only ipod / sansa bootloader)
(all) fix proxy support not working properly with theme installation (and probably other dialogs)
(all) fix various broken links (most notably manual and voice file download), resulting in a "HTTP 404" error.
1.2.1 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Theme installation doesn't find themes, because the theme site changed
(all) For some targets (iriver h10 5gb, ipod mini) the target mismatch detection doesn't work correctly ().
(all) installing the bootloader on Sansa players could result in a wrong bootloader installed if the selected device didn't match the physically present one (i.e. e200 bootloader installed on c200).
(all) zip files created by info-zip 3.0 not extracted properly, no error indication.
(linux) The Festival TTS is now supported under Linux ().
1.2 (themes.rockbox.org ready) - released
(w32) selecting a cache path was limited to drives ().
(all) themes dialog doesn't show any themes even if there are themes available ( Note: the themes site isn't up yet).
(all) improved error reporting on theme preview download.
1.1 (no more hardcoded release) - released
(all) Rockbox Utility now retrieves information about the latest Rockbox release from the download server.
(all) The configuration is now checked in the configuration dialog before accepting it to prevent wrong configurations getting saved ().
(linux) try to detect if Rockbox Utility is run using sudo and make sure the configuration file (on the PC) is saved with proper permissions.
(w32) "No Sansa found" error when trying to install the bootloader for e200 / c200 ().
m1.0.9 (bugfix release) - released
(all) Gigabeat F/X bootloader installation put the bootloader file in the wrong place ()
m1.0.8 ("Rockbox 3.1" release) - released
with Rockbox 3.1
rbutil now checks if the disk space is sufficient before extracting zip files (fixes ).
bootloader installation has been reworked completely, improving the messages during bootloader install and adding more hints (i.e. where to find required files etc.)
installation dialog now remembers the last build selection
quick start defaults to the latest release instead of the most recent build.
support for Rockbox 3.1
(w32) sapi voice engine support was broken. (Updated binaries available as m1.0.7b)
m1.0.7 (bugfix and "3.0 ready" release) - released
if no language has been selected by the configuration the system language is used (given that a translation in the system language is available)
support for sansa c200 with original firmware version 01.01.07
rbutil now transmits its own User-Agent string for http requests.
replaced "Install All" button in theme installation by a notice how to install multiple themes.
Bootloader installation for iaudios could fail if there is no FIRMWARE directory
update for Rockbox 3.0 release
m1.0.6 (bugfix release) - released
Rbutil now asks if it should backup before updating to a new Build.
improved download caching
new System Info dialog (About / System Info). Shows user priviledge level on W32, so check this if you have issues installing the bootloader on your Ipod / Sansa.
the encoder is now automatically choosen depending on the selected player.
(w32) improved mountpoint detection for Sansa / Ipod.
(w32) using autodetection resulted in "no Sansa found" errors.
m1.0.5 (bugfix release) - released
(linux, os x) H10, Iaudio, Gigabeat and m:robe bootloader installation can fail on case-sensitive systems
(regression) System proxy setting isn't honored in some places.
Themes button created a segfault when offline mode was enabled.
mountpoint detection on Gigabeat was non-functional.
downloading didn't work if URI contained special characters (happened with a space in DockPod Aqua theme file)
enhanced mountpoint detection for Ipods. Should work always if OF specific folders are present.
m:robe 100 support.
iaudio m3 support.
detect unsupported player variants (e200v2 / c200v2 / Ipod Nano 2G / 3G) and inform the user that Rockbox will not run.
extracting the downloaded archives previously didn't show any progress (most notably on players with slow hard discs like m:robe)
m1.0.4 (bugfix release) - released
Complete Installation still seems buggy. Please use the install options from the second tab, until it's fixed.
The URL to the voice file was wrong for a few targets.
(w32 / vista) bootloader installation doesn't work due to UAC issues on windows vista, you need to use the manual bootloader installation for now.
Voice file creation is now possible with rbutil.
Support rbspeex as encoder for .Talk files. Its now builtin.
(w32) Sapi_voice script is now built in.
(w32) "system proxy" now also honors the ProxyEnable value (i.e. if you entered a proxy value in IE's settings dialog but disabled them rbutil also won't use them. Automatic proxy settings are still unsupported).
m1.0.3 (bugfix release) - released .
Talkfile creation puts the _dirname.talk file in the wrong place.
complete Installation failed with "unsupported install method".
(w32) Sansa bootloader installation didn't work
m1.0.2 (bugfix release) - released .
Enhanced device detection code, utilizing the USB IDs.
Two new translations (Chinese traditional and simplified.
Support for the sansa c200.
On Windows using the proxy settings set in IE5 is supported.
The new "Actions" menu should make it easier to operate using the keyboard or screenreaders.
uninstalling the bootloader doesn't honor the proxy setting
Iaudio M5 was listed as color target
add Sandisk C200 configuration and detection
installation tasks don't check for a valid configuration but fail instead.
small / complete installation tries to install the bootloader even for targets that don' similar applies to doom.
downloading PDF manual crashes installer
m1.0.1 (bugfix release) - released .
Enhanced device detection code. (Note: The user configuration file changed slightly. If you used Rockbox Utility before your user configuration is expected to be missing upon the first launch.)
when you use the autodetection button, a device was found by the detection and there wasn't anything selected previously the program segfaults.
the ipodvideo64mb build was missing. ipodpatcher cant detect it, select it by hand.
rbutil doesnt detect and install the iaudio X5V build correctly
when detecting a device only the selected tree was collapsed.
the install log window doesn't update between download started and unzip finished.
entering the talk file window with invalid settings result in a crash. Strangely doesn't happen in all cases.
(linux only) when autodetecting an Ipod there was a possiblity to detect the wrong mountpoint if other partitions (IPL) are present and mounted
(w32 only) the menu bar shows up slightly delayed (looks like this was related to my Qt installation and not a bug itself)
(w32 only) if you close the program while it tries downloading build information (from the main screen) you'll get a crash upon exit
m1.0 (Milestone 1) - released .
All functionality that was present in the
has been ported, plus some minor enhancements.
Development
Development information have been moved to .
If you need a more up-to-date version of
you can try a . Important: those binaries are not supported. Please do not file bug against such binaries. If you have issues with them please tell us using our support channels. Also, those binaries are not updated regularly so they might not be newer than the latest release!
: The Rockbox Installer and Housekeeping Utility [Misc]