Simple XP tip: show COM ports

21 May 2008, by Berwyn    4 comments

As a developer, it’s annoying how XP hides advanced features way down deep.

For instance, I often use USB-serial devices, and when I need to check which port one of them’s attached to, here’s the 7-stage clickfest:

1. Start
2. Settings
3. Control Panel
4. System
5. Hardware
6. Device Manager
7. Ports (COM & LPT)

Well, it can be much simpler than that. Simply put the following lines in a file called ports.bat and drag it to your quick launch bar:

reg query HKLM\hardware\devicemap\serialcomm
pause

Voila! Every time you click it, you get a nice list of all your COM ports in Lucida Console.

Feel free to drop your own XP developer tips in the comment box.

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