In order to display one of our micro:bit projects on your micro:bit, you will need to download its hex file directly to your micro:bit to activate it. If you are having trouble doing this, or are not sure how, here are some tips for errors you may encounter.

Bear in mind that our Shake up the colour and Dot game projects depend on the use of the hardware extension, the micro:pixel 4×8 WS2812B board for BBC micro:bit. However, it may also work on similar products with larger dimensions but don’t blame me if it doesn’t work.

Before anything else, make sure your micro:bit is properly set up to your computer, connecting with a micro-USB to USB cable.

microbit connection example image

You will also need to ensure that the micro:bit is properly inserted into the micro:pixel, as shown in the image below.

neopixel in microbit image

If this hardware setup is correct, then the next step is to download the hex files from the project pages, and then move them into your micro:bit folder in your documents.

When attempting to download the hex file to your documents , you may come across this error message:

hex download fail screenshot

If this is the case, do not try and open the hex file. The file should already be in your downloads.

From here, you can view the downloaded hex files in your downloads folder in your documents. Drag this file into your micro:bit folder, which should have appeared as an extension folder when you plugged the micro:bit into your computer. It should then download the project to your micro:bit and automatically display on the RGB screen of the micro:pixel.