Installing C51 and MDK-Arm in Keil Together

To this day, Keil has yet to unify the common hardware platforms into a single IDE. If the intention is to save disk space, I think it is unnecessary — after all, the installation packages for C51 and MDK-Arm together amount to less than 1.5 GB, which, compared with WeChat and QQ that easily take up tens of GB, is undoubtedly more like “small and beautiful”. This article will introduce the perfect solution for installing C51 and MDK-Arm at the same time

Steps

1. Prerequisites

For this installation, we need to prepare in advance: MDK-Arm, C51, Chinese localization file, cracking software (the software is for technical exchange purposes only; do not use it for commercial or illegal purposes. I shall not be held responsible for any resulting legal disputes).

2. Install Keil

2.1. Create a folder

On the drive where you want to install Keil, create a Keil folder, then create C51 and ARM folders inside the Keil folder. The directory structure is as follows:

1
2
3
4

Keil
  ├─ARM
  │  └─Packs
  └─C51

2.2. Install C51 and MDK-Arm

  • When installing, you need to install C51 and MDK-Arm into the C51 and ARM folders created in the previous step respectively. Keep good folder classification habits for easier future management.

  • There is no requirement on the installation order, but it is recommended to install C51 first, and then MDK-Arm. Because what we ultimately use is the UV4.exe provided by MDK-Arm, if we install C51 afterwards, the Keil icon on the desktop will link to the UV4.exe provided by C51, and we would need to create another shortcut to \Keil\ARM\UV4\UV4.exe and drag it to the desktop to replace it, which is an unnecessary hassle.

3. Start merging

  • Copy all the files inside \Keil\C51\UV4 and paste them into \Keil\ARM\UV4. If prompted about duplicate files, do not overwrite them — just skip them!

  • Then copy the contents of the \Keil\C51\TOOLS.INI file and paste them at the end of the \Keil\ARM\TOOLS.INI file, without any modification needed. The rough structure is as follows:

    1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

    [UV2]
Some MDK-Arm settings
[ARM]
Other MDK-Arm settings

[UV2]
Some C51 settings
[C51]
Other C51 settings

4. Localize to Chinese

Download the localization file and replace \Keil\ARM\UV4\UV4.exe with it.

5. Activation

The activation steps are no different from the usual case, but there are a few points to note.

Open Keil from the desktop and go through the activation flow step by step. Note that there are two rows in the table:

ProductLicense ID Code (LIC)/Product variantSupport Period
PK51 Prof. Developers KitRegistration codeSupport period
MDK-ARM PlusRegistration codeSupport period

Therefore, you need to activate twice: select the Target dropdown of the cracking software as C51 and ARM respectively, and apply both generated activation codes to Keil.

That’s it — everything is complete, and you can begin your journey of hardware development.

References