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Getting Started

  • Article

Kinect for Windows 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8

This page contains lots of additional resources that will help you develop a Kinect-enabled application. This includes the release notes for the SDK, instructions for getting started creating projects using Visual Studio, and lots of links to blogs, published papers, and other SDKs that you may need.

  • License Agreement
  • System Requirements
  • Installation
  • Getting Help

License Agreement

By downloading, installing, accessing, or using the Microsoft Kinect for Windows Software Development Kit (SDK), you agree to be bound by the terms of its license. Please read the Microsoft Kinect for Windows SDK license provided as part of this software.

System Requirements

See System Requirements.

Installation

See Setting Up a Kinect Sensor.

Important Notes

Make sure the Kinect sensor is not plugged into the USB port on the computer prior to running setup.

If you are upgrading from a previous version of the SDK and Toolkit: The SDK and runtime are upgrades over the previous 1.X releases (1.0, 1.5, etc). If you have a previous SDK 1.X installed, the current SDK setup will uninstall it and replace it with the current SDK. The SDK, driver, and runtime are all fully compatible with previous SDK 1.X versions. That means a Kinect for Windows application built using Kinect for Windows SDK 1.0 should continue to run after installing the current SDK. If you encounter compatibility problems (other than the known issues listed below) please report them.

If you are using a pre-release or Beta version of the Kinect for Windows SDK:

  • You must uninstall any pre-release or Beta version of the Kinect for Windows SDK prior to running setup.
  • If you have the Microsoft Server Speech Platform 10.2 components installed, you must uninstall them before installing this SDK. If you don’t uninstall them, setup will display an error. Note: This component was installed by Beta 2.

To Install the SDK and Toolkit

  1. Make sure the Kinect sensor is not plugged into the USB port on the computer.

  2. If you have a previous 1.X version of Kinect for Windows SDK installed, close any open samples, the Sample Browser, and exit the Kinect for Windows runtime if it is running. You do not need to uninstall the previous version. Skip to step 5.

    Note

    It is important to close any open samples, the Sample Browser, and exit the Kinect for Windows runtime before starting installation. Failure to close these will result in installation failure.

    If you do not have a previous 1.x version of Kinect for Windows SDK installed, proceed to step 3.

  3. Remove any other drivers for the Kinect sensor.

  4. If you have Microsoft Server Speech Platform 10.2 installed, uninstall the Microsoft Server Speech Platform Runtime and SDK components including both the x86 and x64 bit versions, plus the Microsoft Server Speech Recognition Language – Kinect language pack.

  5. Close Visual Studio. You must close Visual Studio before installing the SDK and then restart it after installation to pick up the KINECTSDK10_DIR environment variables that the SDK requires.

  6. From the download location, double-click the KinectSDK-versionNumber-Setup.exe (where versionNumber is the latest shipped version). This single installer works for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows.

  7. Once this SDK has completed installing successfully, ensure the Kinect sensor is plugged into an external power source then plug the sensor into the PC’s USB port. The drivers will load automatically.

  8. The Kinect sensor should now be working correctly.

  9. To install the Toolkit, from the download location double-click KinectDeveloperToolkit-versionNumber-Setup.exe (where version number is the latest shipped version). This single installer works for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows. Note that in the current version of the SDK installer, the Toolkit can be installed simply by following the on-screen instructions.

  10. To execute tools or samples, install samples, or explore other resources, start the Developer Toolkit Browser via the start menu: Kinect for Windows SDK version number > Developer Toolkit Browser version number (Kinect for Windows).

If the driver is installed correctly:

  1. The solid green LED on the Kinect sensor should be lit.
  2. The Kinect sensor should appear in Device Manager as the following nodes under Kinect for Windows: Kinect for Windows Audio Array Control, Kinect for Windows Camera, and Kinect for Windows Security Control.
  3. The Kinect sensor's microphone array will appear under Sound, video and game controllers in Device Manager as: Kinect for Windows USB Audio.

If you have trouble getting the sensor or the SDK working, see Setting Up a Kinect Sensor.

Getting Help

The SDK Documentation is available online.

The Programming Guide section of the documentation has many important details for developers, including how to access the APIs from C++ and managed code projects, understanding the Natural User Interface APIs and Audio APIs, and how to accomplish common tasks. The documentation also contains API reference information. For additional help, see Getting Started.

Online developer resources for Kinect for Windows include the following:

For general Windows development questions, try the following:

  • Microsoft Developer Network (https://msdn.microsoft.com): The latest development documentation to help you create applications for Windows.
  • Microsoft TechNet (https://technet.microsoft.com): The latest administration documentation to help you administer the Windows operating system.

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