Finding the right serial port name
To communicate with a device, you first need to open the serial port that it's connected to. Before that, you need to know the name of the serial port to use. Select your operating system to find instructions for determining the serial port name:
- Open Windows Device Manager.
- Find "Ports (COM & LPT)" in the list.
- Expand "Ports (COM & LPT)" to see the names of all serial ports.
The title of your serial port depends on the way you connect the device to the computer:
| Type of connection | Example title |
|---|---|
| Onboard serial port of the computer | Communications Port (COM3) |
| USB to Serial adaptor, such as Zaber's X-USBDC connector | USB Serial Port (COM3) |
| Direct USB connection on a standalone controller | X-MCB2 (COM3) |
In any case, the port name is the text in brackets (i.e. COM3 in the previous examples).
If there are multiple ports that look like they may be valid, you may need to try them to see which connection works.
See a video of how to find the port name.
Example Code
We have a Python COM Port Scan example that shows how to programmatically check all serial ports for Zaber devices.