Download the latest version of the installer from this page. As of the last revision of this guide, the latest installer is version 1.0.3

Locate the downloaded installer (setup.exe) and double-click to launch the installer. Click Run and/or Yes if one or more security prompts appear. Click Next to proceed.

Seect an install directory the default is recommended, then click Next.

Click Install to begin the installation.

When the installation completes, click Finish to exit the installer.

Locate the FRC DS Data Storage.ini file on your PC. On Windows 7 this file should be located in C:\Users\Public\Documents\FRC and on Windows XP it should be in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\FRC). Double click on the file to open it in Notepad.

Locate the line beginning with DashboardCmdLine and modify it to point to the installed SmartDashboard (note that the SmartDashboard is installed to Program Files on both 32 and 64 bit machines, not Program Files (x86)!). Note the double quotes and double slashes used. The Driver Station should now launch the Smart Dashboard automatically.

To add a camera image to the SmartDashboard, click View >> Add >> Camera. The camera IP address will default to 10.XX.YY.11 where XXYY is the 4 digit version of the configured team number. If you need to change this IP, make sure the Dashboard is set to Editable (also in the View menu), then right click on the Camera widget and select Properties.

The most common cause of camera connection issues with the SamrtDashboard is not setting the camera to accept anonymous connections. For more information on setting the camera to receive anonymous connections see the Configuring an Access Camera document.

If you are using the camera plugin for SmartDashboard there are a few common errors that prevent it from working:

1. Be sure that you have set the camera for Anonymous viewing from the previous step.
2. Be sure to add the camera as shown a few steps back with the correct IP address.
3. Be sure to run the version of the SmartDashboard from the start menu - not the one in the sunspotfrcsdk/tools folder.

If you try to load the camera extension and everything is configured correctly as shown in the previous steps, the problem might be a mismatch between the SmartDashboard extensions and your JVM. Run the SmartDashboard in the CMD window as shown here. If you see the error shown here, then the problem is that it is running with a 64-bit JVM and trying to load 32-bit plugins.

1. Change the current directory to the SmartDashboard installation directory.
2. Run the SmartDashboard using the "java -jar" command.
3. If you see this error, then the problem is the 64-bit JVM.

If you have both the 64 bit and 32 bit Java installed on your system, you can create a .CMD (command) file that will run SmartDashboard using the 32-bit Java installation. Find the 32-bit Java installation, probably in \Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin\javaw.exe and note the path to javaw.exe. Then create a command file in the SmartDashboard installation directory (\Program Files\SmartDashboard) that is as shown in the illustration above. Make sure the paths in this file match the ones on your system. You can then copy and paste this command file to the Start Menu on your system and use it when you need to run SmartDashboard.

We'll try to have a better solution for this soon, but this will get you going.