Hi,
SETUP
Version: 1.2.1 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: 031e7e0ff1e2eda9c1a0f5df67d44053b059c5d0
Date: 2025-07-03T06:16:02.610Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

I am experiencing a similar issue as: https://community.circuitdojo.com/d/687-init-repo-error where I cant build any samples:

Executing task: west build -b circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/nrf9160/ns -d build\circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160 

ninja: error: loading 'build.ninja': The system cannot find the file specified.

FATAL ERROR: command exited with status 1: 'C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\cmake\cmake-3.22.0-windows-x86_64\bin\cmake.EXE' --build 'C:\Users\flarehalo\Documents\circuitdojo\nfed\samples\external_flash\build\circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160'

I followed the documentation for Windows SDK: https://docs.circuitdojo.com/nrf9160-feather/sdk-setup-windows.htm

Installed the extension
ran Zephyr Tools: Setup (twice actually as suggested in the other post)

[SETUP] unzip C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\zephyr-tools-0.1.7-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\zephyr-tools
[SETUP] unzip C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\newtmgr.zip to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\newtmgr
[SETUP] unzip C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\ninja-win.zip to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\ninja
[SETUP] unzip C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\cmake-3.22.0-windows-x86_64.zip to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\cmake
[SETUP] Installing zephyr-sdk-0.16.4 toolchain...
[SETUP] 7z extract C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\zephyr-sdk-0.16.4_windows-x86_64_minimal.7z to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\toolchain
[SETUP] 7z extract C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\downloads\toolchain_windows-x86_64_arm-zephyr-eabi.7z to C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\toolchain\zephyr-sdk-0.16.4
git version 2.47.0.windows.2
[SETUP] git installed
python --version
[SETUP] python3 found
python -m pip --version
pip 25.1 from C:\Users\flarehalo\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\Lib\site-packages\pip (python 3.12)

[SETUP] pip installed
python -m venv --help
[SETUP] python3 venv OK
python -m venv "C:\Users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env"
[SETUP] virtual python environment created
Requirement already satisfied: west in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (1.4.0)
Requirement already satisfied: colorama in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from west) (0.4.6)
Requirement already satisfied: PyYAML>=5.1 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from west) (6.0.2)
Requirement already satisfied: pykwalify in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from west) (1.8.0)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from west) (25.0)
Requirement already satisfied: docopt>=0.6.2 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from pykwalify->west) (0.6.2)
Requirement already satisfied: python-dateutil>=2.8.0 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from pykwalify->west) (2.9.0.post0)
Requirement already satisfied: ruamel.yaml>=0.16.0 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from pykwalify->west) (0.18.14)
Requirement already satisfied: six>=1.5 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from python-dateutil>=2.8.0->pykwalify->west) (1.17.0)
Requirement already satisfied: ruamel.yaml.clib>=0.2.7 in c:\users\flarehalo\.zephyrtools\env\lib\site-packages (from ruamel.yaml>=0.16.0->pykwalify->west) (0.2.12)

[notice] A new release of pip is available: 24.3.1 -> 25.1.1
[notice] To update, run: python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
[SETUP] west installed
[SETUP] Zephyr setup complete!`

> ran Zephyr Tools: Init Repo
> all ran cleanly

> ran Zephyr Tools: Build
> Selected the: nr9160 ns board
> Chose the external flash sample

`Executing task: west build -b circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/nrf9160/ns -d build\circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160 

-- west build: generating a build system
Loading Zephyr module(s) (Zephyr base): sysbuild_default
-- Found Python3: C:/Users/clint/.zephyrtools/env/Scripts/python.exe (found suitable version "3.12.8", minimum required is "3.10") found components: Interpreter

-- Cache files will be written to: C:/flarehalo/zephyr/.cache
-- Found west (found suitable version "1.4.0", minimum required is "0.14.0")
-- Board: circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160, Revision: 6, qualifiers: nrf9160/ns
Parsing C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/sysbuild/Kconfig
Loaded configuration 'C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/build/circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/_sysbuild/empty.conf'
Merged configuration 'C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/build/circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/_sysbuild/empty.conf'
Merged configuration 'C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/sysbuild.conf'
Configuration saved to 'C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/build/circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/zephyr/.config'
Kconfig header saved to 'C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/build/circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/_sysbuild/autoconf.h'
-- 
   *****************************
   * Running CMake for mcuboot *
   *****************************

Loading Zephyr default modules (Zephyr base).
-- Application: C:/flarehalo/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/zephyr
-- CMake version: 3.22.0
-- Found Python3: C:/Users/clint/.zephyrtools/env/Scripts/python.exe (found suitable version "3.12.8", minimum required is "3.10") found components: Interpreter

-- Cache files will be written to: C:/flarehalo/zephyr/.cache
-- Zephyr version: 4.0.99 (C:/flarehalo/zephyr)
-- Found west (found suitable version "1.4.0", minimum required is "0.14.0")
-- Board: circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160, Revision: 6, qualifiers: nrf9160
CMake Error at C:/flarehalo/zephyr/cmake/modules/FindZephyr-sdk.cmake:80 (find_package):
  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "Zephyr-sdk"
  (requested version 0.16) with any of the following names:

    Zephyr-sdkConfig.cmake
    zephyr-sdk-config.cmake

  Add the installation prefix of "Zephyr-sdk" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
  "Zephyr-sdk_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files.  If
  "Zephyr-sdk" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has
  been installed.
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/cmake/modules/FindHostTools.cmake:53 (find_package)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/cmake/modules/dts.cmake:9 (find_package)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/cmake/modules/zephyr_default.cmake:133 (include)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:66 (include)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:92 (include_boilerplate)
  CMakeLists.txt:18 (find_package)


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
CMake Error at cmake/modules/sysbuild_extensions.cmake:514 (message):
  CMake configure failed for Zephyr project: mcuboot

  Location: C:/flarehalo/bootloader/mcuboot/boot/zephyr/
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  cmake/modules/sysbuild_images.cmake:43 (ExternalZephyrProject_Cmake)
  cmake/modules/sysbuild_default.cmake:21 (include)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:75 (include)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:92 (include_boilerplate)
  C:/flarehalo/zephyr/share/sysbuild-package/cmake/SysbuildConfig.cmake:8 (include)
  template/CMakeLists.txt:10 (find_package)


-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/flarehalo/nfed/samples/external_flash/build/circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log"`

Looking further into it further I discovered that the zephyr build is failing silently.
The zephyr-sdk-0.16.4_windows-x86_64_minimal.7z is not being extracted from from the downloads folder to the target location. Also, the environment variables are not being set. This is all captured in manifest.json file

"toolchains": [
        {
          "name": "zephyr-sdk-0.16.4",
          "downloads": [
            {
              "name": "toolchain",
              "filename": "zephyr-sdk-0.16.4_windows-x86_64_minimal.7z",
              "url": "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/sdk-ng/releases/download/v0.16.4/zephyr-sdk-0.16.4_windows-x86_64_minimal.7z",
              "md5": "fbf2ffa00c77227537514fa43075607f",
              "suffix": "zephyr-sdk-0.16.4\\arm-zephyr-eabi\\bin\\",
              "env": [
                {
                  "name": "ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT",
                  "value": "zephyr",
                  "usepath": false,
                  "append": false
                },
                {
                  "name": "ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR",
                  "suffix": "zephyr-sdk-0.16.4",
                  "usepath": true,
                  "append": false
                }
              ]
            }

After correcting this manually I still get the following error:

Executing task: west build -b circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160/nrf9160/ns -d build\circuitdojo_feather_nrf9160 

ninja: error: loading 'build.ninja': The system cannot find the file specified.

Is it possible the build process is broken for Windows with the 7z archives not extracting properly?

Any guidance appreciated.