Simple XP tip: show COM ports
21 May 2008, by Berwyn 6 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:
- Start
- Settings
- Control Panel
- System
- Hardware
- Device Manager
- 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.
6 comments (oldest first)
Right on, that makes life easier. Thanx a lot. From calgary Alberta Canada.
Nice – that made my day :-) Time for a coffee …
Wow. I’ve looked for something like this for what seems like years. Thanks for making my day!
Hrmm that was bizarre, my comment acquired eaten. Anyway I needed to say that it’s good to know that someone else also mentioned this as I had bother finding the identical data elsewhere. This was the primary place that instructed me the answer. Thanks.
It’s so clever since it is so simple! Greetings from Greece.
Awesome, that simple script was extremely helpful. Thanx from South Dakota, USA.