Serial port at

Also, many new computers and laptops no longer have a serial port. In the above graphic of a serial port, you can notice the DB9 serial port connection is easy to identify.

The connection is in the shape of the letter D, is a male connector , and has 9 pins. Below is a listing of various hardware components that can be purchased and used with your serial port. Modem - Another commonly used device for serial ports. Used commonly with older computers, however, is also commonly used for its ease of use. Network - One of the original uses of the serial port, which allowed two computers to connect together and allow large files to be transferred between the two.

Printer - Today, this not a commonly used device for serial ports. However, was frequently used with older printers and plotters. Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support. Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services. Privacy policy.

For most devices, the Ports device setup class and the Serial function driver provide the functionality required to operate serial ports and COM ports. To install serial ports and COM ports using these system-supplied components, do the following:. Serial ports, also known as RS ports, are an interface used for serial communication that transmits a single bit at a time. COM or communications ports are other names for serial ports. The use of serial ports has declined with the development of USB and other high-speed solutions, but they still are used in some very important applications.

Serial ports are instrumental in the operation of industrial automation systems and are often used to connect lab equipment and other scientific instruments to computers and networks. It is imperative that you regularly monitor and analyze serial port activity when working with serial devices.

This could be event notifications from apps, status messages or other information that enables you to troubleshoot the equipment if necessary and can serve as a guide for installing new devices. There is no specific operating system tool or function that allows you to read serial ports in Windows.

But there is a solution, as the software is available that can check, monitor and analyze RS port activity. It gives you a tool for Windows that can read COM ports. COM Port Reader is a professional-grade software tool that should be your first choice when seeking an answer to the question of how to read data from RS ports.

The tool allows you to send commands or other information to COM-based devices or RS applications in a variety of formats string, binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal, mixed.

The returned responses can be monitored and saved in a single log file that employs the first-in-first-out method. Serial Port Reader also lets you redirect serial port output a file or the clipboard, so it is available for further analysis at any time.

This software utility allows you to read RS data from a designated port and monitor it even if another application had already opened it. Captured serial data can be displayed in various formats, and the opportunity of real-time monitoring is a great feature for problem resolution. The received data can be saved to a file of your choice or copied to the clipboard.

Sessions can be saved by Com Port Reader and can be reloaded if required. Multiple serial ports can be read simultaneously by this software tool.

This feature is very useful when comparing data collected from different COM ports that are interacting with the same application within monitoring session.