How to flash a Lily58 keyboard

I recently purchased a Lily58 from Mechboards. I was about to embark on a typing journey from which I haven't looked back.

When I first received the keyboard, though, I couldn't work out how to flash it. While many guides exist, none worked for me, so here's my guide for you!

Whom this guide is for

This guide is for anybody with a Lily58 keyboard with Pro Micro controllers, where the controllers have a "RESET" button.

If you don't have these things, my solution may still work, but I can't say for sure.

Installing QMK

First, you'll need to install QMK. I initially installed regular Windows QMK, but it was extremely slow. I switched to QMK for WSL which worked much better.

Install QMK WSL in your normal Windows system (not on WSL). However, make sure that your qmk_firmware folder is situated in WSL. If not, your keymap compilations will take forever.

Now you're ready to create keymaps. You can find out more about this on the QMK site.

Flashing your keyboard

Once you've made and compiled a Lily58 keymap with QMK, you'll have a file to load into your keyboard. Most likely, this will have a .uf2 file extension.

Here's how you can flash that file onto the keyboard:

  1. Unplug the keyboard from your computer, then disconnect the keyboard halves from each other. DO NOT disconnect the keyboard halves until the keyboard has been unplugged from the computer. Remove the TRRS cable entirely.
  2. Open the My Computer folder in Windows, and have your .uf2 file at the ready.
  3. Plug one keyboard half into the computer.
  4. Double-press your keyboard half's "RESET" button. Your keyboard will enter flashing mode and it will appear as a storage device in My Computer. (If you can't see the keyboard on your screen, try again; it doesn't always work first time.)
  5. Paste the .uf2 file into the keyboard "drive" in My Computer.
  6. The drive will disappear from My Computer shortly afterwards and, if you have an OLED, it might turn off and on again. The keyboard is restarting.
  7. Unplug the keyboard half and repeat the process for the other half.

That's all it takes! Happy typing!