Windows 11 USB Driver Troubleshooting for LEGO Portal

Date: 2026-09-23 Project: lego-dimensions-reader Status: resolved Tags: windows, usb, pyusb, libusb, drivers, zadig

Context

The LEGO Dimensions WiiU portal was not being detected on Windows 11 when running the lego_dimensions_reader.py module. Initial error was "Portal not found" despite the device being connected, followed by "Operation not supported or unimplemented on this platform" errors.

Key Decisions

Install libusb Python package — pyusb needs a backend DLL on Windows. The pip install libusb package bundles the DLL in a Python-accessible location, avoiding manual DLL placement.
Use Zadig to install WinUSB driver — The portal ships with HID drivers which don't support raw USB access. WinUSB (via Zadig) enables pyusb communication.
Keep existing kernel driver detach code — The connect() method already wraps is_kernel_driver_active() / detach_kernel_driver() in try/except (AttributeError, usb.core.USBError): pass, making it Windows-safe. No code change needed.

Technical Details

Portal USB identifiers:

VID: 0x0E6F
PID: 0x0241
Product string: "LEGO READER V2.10"
Manufacturer: "PDP LIMITED"
Interface: HID (Class 0x03)
Endpoints: 0x81 (IN), 0x01 (OUT) — 32-byte interrupt packets

Required packages:

pip install pyusb libusb

Zadig setup:

Options → List All Devices
Select "LEGO READER V2.10"
Target driver: WinUSB
Click "Replace Driver"

USB operations verified working:

set_configuration() ✓
get_interface() ✓
claim_interface() ✓
write(1, data) ✓
read(0x81, 32, timeout=100) ✓ — returned init response with "(c) LEGO 2014" signature

Tag event parsing (from _poll_events):

Packet byte 0: 0x56 = NFC tag event
Packet byte 2: pad number (1=CENTER, 2=LEFT, 3=RIGHT)
Packet byte 5: action (0=INSERTED, 1=REMOVED)
Packet bytes 6-12: 7-byte UID

Code Changes

No code changes required. The existing lego_dimensions_reader.py already handles Windows gracefully:

connect() lines 248-252: kernel driver detach wrapped in try/except
All USB operations use standard pyusb calls compatible with WinUSB backend

Open Questions / Next Steps

Test full tag reading — Run python lego_dimensions_reader.py with a character disc to verify end-to-end tag detection
Character ID decryption — May need to implement tag memory read commands (0xB2) to read pages 0x24-0x25 for TEA-encrypted character ID
Integration testing — Connect to Moonlight Drive-In video player system

Artifacts

Repository: https://gitea.hideawaygaming.com.au/jessikitty/lego-dimensions-reader
File: lego_dimensions_reader.py (SHA: 000981b09d)
Diagnostic script used: test_connect.py (created during session, not committed)

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