VSPE is intended to help software engineers and developers to create/debug/test applications that use serial ports. It is able to create various virtual devices to transmit/receive data. Unlike regular serial ports, virtual devices have special capabilities: the same device can be opened more than once. Using VSPE you can share physical serial port data between several programs, create virtual pipes and so on. Version 0.865 includes unspecified updates.
What do you need to know about free software?
My question is similar to Setting up a virtual Com Port?, which has no answers.
I have software that can only print to a printer on COMx, a printer with a USB port, and a computer with a USB port but no serial ports, so the oft-suggested physical Serial-to-USB adapter isn't a solution. I'm looking for software that tricks Windows 7 into mapping a virtual COM port to a physical USB port. I'm certain that if the software I'm using sends its stream of bits to the USB port that the printer will work just fine. How do I trick the software into thinking it's printing to COMx when it's actually printing to USBx?
Internet searches only turn up drivers for some specific hardware Serial-to-USB adapter, but that's not what I'm looking for as I don't have that hardware. I found a Microsoft forum where they suggested changing the USB port's label in Device Manager, but we never found anything like what they described; perhaps that's possible with a different USB controller than we have.
4 Answers
There is a simple way to do it using standard Windows commands. Lee Harrison's link shows this command, but here's a short description. Start by making the printer shareable (from Printer Properties > Sharing tab).
Now, start a command prompt and type:
Here, pc_name
is the name of the sharing PC, and printer_share_name
is the share name you gave the printer when you set up the share.
From then on, anything you send to COM1 will be re-routed to the printer.
There is one proviso however - and it applies regardless of which method you use to get the data to the printer, hardware or software:
As your program only knows about COM1, I assume it will send plain text to the printer. Many USB-only printers do NOT understand plain text, and will just ignore it altogether. Printers that do this are called host-based printers, where the Windows graphics engine converts the page into dots on the paper, rather than letting the printer do the conversion. They are mostly the low cost printers, especially inkjets but also some lasers. Printers that do understand text need to support a language called PCL5. PCL6 printers usually also support PCL5, but PCL3 printers do not.
If you tell me your printer model I can check what language it supports.
We use this solution in the company.
Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers cause the USB device to appear as an additional COM port available to the PC. Application software can access the USB device in the same way as it would access a standard COM port.
Here is the Instalation Guide.
This is a very specific scenario, but the following directions may work for you:http://www.decompile.com/dataflex/tips/usb_printer.htm
Directly from that link:
However, I don't know if COM connections will even be selectable in your case since your PC doesn't have any to begin with. You may be able to purchase a USB/COM adapter just to gain access to these values, then use the above directions to forward to your USB printer.
Sounds kinda hack-ish but when you're running old software sometimes this is what it comes down. Whatever the solution, I don't know that it will appear to be elegant!
The final thing would be to just purchase a USB to serial/parallel adapter and a cheap printer that fits the specs. If you use this software in business, I think that's an easily justifiable expense.
If you need to emulate the serial port, this software make that kind of work https://www.eltima.com/products/vspdxp/ But I have no idea, whether you can talk to your USB with the emulated COM..
protected by Community♦May 15 at 12:47
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Article ID: 54574790
Issue / Question
Usb Comm Port Emulator
How Do I Emulate a COM/Serial Port Over USB? Sinhala unicode fonts for windows 10.
Applicable To
Supported DCS products, refer to the USB CDC Driver for Windows page or the user guide of the scanner.
* If using DS3578 or LS3578 , Bluetooth FIPs cradle part # STB3578-CF007WR must be used
Resolution / Answer
To emulate a COM port over a USB connection, please follow these steps
1. Download ONE of the following files based on the architecture of your Windows computer from USB CDC Driver for Windows page:
- 64 Bit COM Emulation Drivers
- 32 Bit COM Emulation Drivers
2. Install the downloaded file.
3. Reboot the host.
4. Scan the following bar code
5. Your scanner should now show up in Device Manager with a COM port number.
+ Applicable Products
- DS2200 Series
- DS3508 Series of Rugged 1D 2D Imager Scanners
- DS3608-DP DS3678-DP Ultra Rugged Scanners
- DS3608-ER DS3678-ER Ultra Rugged Scanners
- DS3608-HD DS3678-HD Ultra Rugged Scanners
- DS3608-HP DS3678-HP Ultra Rugged Scanners
- DS3608-SR DS3678-SR Ultra Rugged Scanners
- DS4208
- DS457 Series
- DS4800 Series
- DS6607 Handheld Scanner
- DS6707
- DS6707-DS6708
- DS6708
- DS6878-SR Cordless Bluetooth 2D Imager
- DS8100 Series
- DS9208 Omnidirectional Hands-Free Presentation Imager
- LI2208
- LI3608-ER
- LI3608-SR
- LI3678-ER
- LI3678-SR
- LI36X8-SR
- LI4278
- LS3578-FZ Rugged Bar Code Scanner
- LS9203i General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- LS9208i General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Platform SDK MT2000
- Symbol DS3578 Series
- Symbol DS4308
- Symbol DS7708
- Symbol DS9808 Hybrid Presentation Imager
- Symbol LS2208 General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Symbol LS4208 General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Symbol LS4278 Cordless General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Symbol LS7708 General Purpose Presentation Scanner
- Symbol LS7808 General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Symbol LS9203 General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
- Symbol LS9208 General Purpose Bar Code Scanner
|
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