Add Virtual Serial COM port above 5 not on the Add Printer Wizard

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G

Guest

Hello,

I would appreciate any help.

I have Taltech TCP-COM software that creates virtual com ports. Everywhere
in windows I can see the virtual com port (Add
modems..etc) but when I go to add a new printer and choose local printer
attached I get a drop down that only goes up to COM4. Since I have several
virtual com port for my POS software I have to add COM5 but it is not
available on the drop down.

So far I have tried to add a port by changing the current com4 to com5 with
the following:
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Xs /n "Prtname" PortName "com5:"
But this did not work since it can only change com ports that are on the
drop down.

I have also tried to create a new com port but it only creates it as a local
port not serial. Due to my software restrictions I an only run this on XP or
Windows 2003 server. I have noticed Vista has com5 but my software does not
work on vista plus I will eventually need to go to com9.

Is anyone aware of a way to make XP or Windows 2003 acknowledge that
com5-com9 exist?

Thanks in advance

-Lost in windows printer def
 
WinMan said:
Hello,

I would appreciate any help.

I have Taltech TCP-COM software that creates virtual com ports. Everywhere
in windows I can see the virtual com port (Add
modems..etc) but when I go to add a new printer and choose local printer
attached I get a drop down that only goes up to COM4. Since I have several
virtual com port for my POS software I have to add COM5 but it is not
available on the drop down.

So far I have tried to add a port by changing the current com4 to com5 with
the following:
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Xs /n "Prtname" PortName "com5:"
But this did not work since it can only change com ports that are on the
drop down.

I have also tried to create a new com port but it only creates it as a local
port not serial. Due to my software restrictions I an only run this on XP or
Windows 2003 server. I have noticed Vista has com5 but my software does not
work on vista plus I will eventually need to go to com9.

Is anyone aware of a way to make XP or Windows 2003 acknowledge that
com5-com9 exist?

Thanks in advance

-Lost in windows printer def
Click to expand...
 
Hi Guys,

Got a similar problem here. I have 10 physical serial ports connected to a few different machines. All are accessible via hyperterminal. However the add printer wizard only has COM1-COM4 available.

(On top of this, COM1-COM4 is also available on computers that don't have any COM ports).

Don't waste your time and money talking to Microsoft! I just did. The best answer I could get after hours was 'This MAY be by design, and their MAY be a 3rd party piece of software that may help with this issue, but by default it's IMPOSSIBLE for this drop down to have more than 4 COM ports and we can't help you any further" - case closed - thanks for your credit card information. :-(


EDIT: - I believe I've found a solution after being told it can't be done (and it looks fairly simple!!!)

Go into the registry:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\PORTS

Add the ones you want (copy the string value from a previous port), and you should be right - easy as! (You'll have to restart your computer after making this change though).

I really hope this helps someone else!

Cheers

Adam.
 
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