Wemos programming

If you already have Arduino IDE and Python on your Windows system then you probably already have ESPTool.py as well. It's probably located at
C:\Users\Ty\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\esp8266\hardware\esp8266\2.5.2\tools\esptool
(substitute your username for Ty)
You can then run it from the command line using the command shown in the readme. However, for Windows, you have to change the -cp /dev/tty$1 to whatever port Windows assigned to your WeMos (see Device Manager -> Ports)

The other, probably easier option is to get a Windows build of nodemcu-pyflasher from THIS REPO . It is a stand-alone Windows .exe with a GUI that's pretty self explanatory. I have not used it extensively, being more of a command line guy, but I have tried it a few times and it seems to work fine. It does not require installation - just download the .exe and run it - and it has no dependencies.

To clarify, if using esptool.py from the command line on Windows, you use Device Manager to find out what COM port Windows has assigned to your WeMos. Then replace -cp /dev/tty$1 with the COM port.

If the WeMos was on COM2 it would look like this:

esptool -vv -cd nodemcu -cb 921600 -cp COM2 -ca 0x0 -cz 0x400000 -ca 0x00000 -cf <firmware_bin_file>

Excellent! Since NodeMCU-PyFlasher-4.0-x64.exe reported success, the clock should work now.

I don't have a WeMos 4 digit here but I do have a WeMos DA-2000 clock. Before I posted my first reply to you I grabbed a new up to date copy of the NodeMCU program and loaded a .bin into my WeMos. I got the success message, stuck the WeMos back in the clock and it was all good.

After the initial set up, you should be able to update firmware with OTA. This is way easier.

What problems did you have with Windows, apart from it being Windows? It should be easier, that's what they always tell me...

Part of the problem is that they are always changing things in the Arduino IDE. Every few weeks they do something.