Simple XP tip: show COM ports
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.
21 May 2008 by Berwyn 11 comments
11 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.
Very good idea help me to my work ..thanks
thanks, nice short cut
Great Idea….. Thanks a lot…
Thanks for this, I use it at work cause they lock everthing down and I have no access to the control panel. They dont understand how difficult it is when you plug into a PLC and cant see which port it is hooked to.. Thanks again
I still cant find my ports…please help.
Awesome, that simple script was extremely helpful. Thanx from South Dakota, USA.