Make sure all drivers are installed and working! Otherwise, you might run into problems while flashing. You can find the links at the bottom of the configurator’s homepage. On Windows, these must be installed. On macOS, I haven’t needed to install anything extra so far, and I haven’t tried Linux distributions yet.

Once you’ve created your backups, it’s time to configure the 4.6 firmware. The configurator now allows you to customize the firmware to your needs instead of flashing all possible protocols, many of which you might not need. This saves memory, and the flight controller (FC) can perform calculations a bit better. Click the Update Firmware button in the top right corner.

Next, click the Show Beta Versions slider. A dropdown menu will appear where you can choose which release state to flash. For now, select Development. Choose the FC you want to flash either from the dropdown menu or by clicking the Auto-detect button, and select 4.6.0-dev from the dropdown below.

A new menu will pop up where you can select which build options to include in the firmware. First, choose the radio protocol you use: CRSF for Crossfire and ELRS, or SBUS for DJI and SBUS receivers. With the cloud build, it is no longer possible to select a different radio protocol after flashing via the configurator. This means if you’re using ELRS now but later want to control via an Air Unit with RC3, you’ll need to rebuild and flash the firmware again!

Below Radio Protocol, there are additional options you can enable or disable, such as GPS, Magnetometer, OSD (HD digital VTx)/(SD analog VTx), LED strip, or VTx. Choose the options you need for your build. For example, if you have a GPS with a compass and an analog VTx, you must select GPS, Magnetometer, OSD-(SD), and VTx when flashing. Otherwise, these functions won’t exist in your firmware and can’t be used. The motor protocol should stay on D-Shot unless your ESC/build uses an ESC that doesn’t support this protocol—which is now rare, and anyone using such an ESC should know which protocol to select.

Once all options needed for your firmware are selected, you need to build it. Click the Load Firmware (online) button in the bottom right, and the configurator will create the firmware for you based on your selections and download it. If you also want to save the firmware file locally, click Load Firmware (local) and save the file to your PC. Next, click Flash Firmware and wait until the progress bar shows Programming Successful.

If the configurator stops during flashing or the progress bar doesn’t move, this usually points to a driver or DFU issue. Reinstall the necessary drivers and restart your PC. Still not working? Disconnect the FC from the USB cable, enable the No Reboot Sequence slider, press and hold the FC’s boot button while reconnecting the USB cable. Then click Flash Firmware again, and it should work. Betaflight 4.6 will now be installed on your FC.

If everything worked, the configurator should automatically connect to your FC and show the first tab. In the middle, a drone is visualized that reacts to the flight controller’s movements. Check if the on-screen drone behaves the same as your real drone when you rotate it along the three axes. If it doesn’t, don’t panic. You just need to tell the firmware how the gyro chip is mounted. We’ll do that in the next chapter.

In this tab, you can also calibrate the accelerometer. This ensures the drone maintains a neutral flight position in Angle and Horizon modes, meaning it won’t drift forward, backward, left, or right. Before calibrating, make sure the flight controller is securely mounted. If the FC is moved after calibration, you need to recalibrate. Place the drone on a flat surface and click

Calibrate Accelerometer. This only takes a few seconds. We can only calibrate the compass after it has been set up correctly.