Windows VISTA and radio shack serial port adapter vista install

[kd5dga]

Last week I bought a new computer with Windows VISTA Home Premimum Edition and having the problems with installing and using the radio shack USB serial port adapter. I did some researching and found a work around on the install of the drivers and it worked. So I am sharing the information to all those who have or will have this problem;
Model: 26-183 | Catalog #: 26-183

Here's how to get the out-of-box cable to work with Vista:
-Do not plug cable into USB yet
-Go to Start->Help, and search for "compatibility wizard"
-Select "What is program compatibility"
-Select "Click to open program compatibility wizard"
-At welcome screen click Next
-Insert the CD/DVD that came with the cable, but do NOT plug cable yet
-Shut down any autorun option should you see it
-Ignore any Explorer windows referring to the Radioshack USB Serial Driver, and close them
-Get back to the compatibility wizard
-Select "I want to locate program manually" and click NEXT
-Click Browse and navigate to the drive containing the Radioshack driver CD/DVD
-Select the program on the CD/DVD, click Next
-Select the needed level of compatibility
---I had it running previously on XP SP2, so I selected that
-Slog thru the Vista dire warnings and Vista will
install the driver correctly
-Restart your computer when advised
-NOW, Plug in the USB cable with attached device --Vista will detect the USB device, complete the driver installation, and your device should work.

I take no credit except for finding this information from the radio shack website and sharing it.
P.s. I tried the wizard for installing a program and it worked fine except for the new BETA version of Unitrunker which has no install.

[loumaag]

You can also follow the advice given by Kevin in this post about drivers for the subject cable.

Also, moving this to the RS forum.

[intermod]

NOTE:

THis does not work for Windows Vista 64-Bit. Most of the posters are unaware that there are two significant versions for Vista - 32-bit and 64-bit. Please specify which when posting!

Still looking for solutions to the Vista 64 Bit USB-Serial driveer issue.....I think dual boot may be it.

intermod

[Gasman315]

I had no problems with driver intall. Vista found drivers in the 64 bit file,loaded them and then went to the internet ,found and installed updates.Vista is a new animal for me and I was suprised at how well it performed.Using ARC 500 software I had the unit up and running in short order!

[eribenboim]

I cannot get it to work with my Vista either... I just do it with my other computer and it works there. Something with the drivers but have not had time to play with it... Good Luck!!!

Thanks, - Eric

[jeffkraussws]

Originally Posted by eribenboim

I cannot get it to work with my Vista either... I just do it with my other computer and it works there. Something with the drivers but have not had time to play with it... Good Luck!!!

Thanks, - Eric

If you need drivers for the 20-047 programming cable, they're here:
http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

[eribenboim]

Ok thanks I have them but it was not letting me upload to the scanner... I will try again and troubleshoot when I get time.

[AlabamaRS]

check the comports

[eribenboim]

Originally Posted by AlabamaRS

check the comports

I have got that set to COM 3

[bballjh]

Anyone know how to get it to work on Windows 7? =]

[kevins669]

Originally Posted by bballjh

Anyone know how to get it to work on Windows 7? =]

Without hijacking this and digressing to a wasteland-esque rant.... It worked fine in Win 7 when I upgraded Vista to 7. No problems with any of the software I use that is radio-related (quite a bit of it, too.)

Since Windows 7 has no liking to my Trend Micro antivirus, and for some reason my normally speedy laptop pretty much ground to a halt, I decided to do a clean install. BAD idea. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that I needed to run would install. I assume it is due to the installers not liking the Windows version when it checked the system... Result is I reinstalled Vista 64 and I am back in business.

So, the RS USB cable worked fine for me with the Vista -> Win7 upgrade. NOT when Win7 was clean installed.

-- Kevin

[bballjh]

Originally Posted by kevins669

Without hijacking this and digressing to a wasteland-esque rant.... It worked fine in Win 7 when I upgraded Vista to 7. No problems with any of the software I use that is radio-related (quite a bit of it, too.)

Since Windows 7 has no liking to my Trend Micro antivirus, and for some reason my normally speedy laptop pretty much ground to a halt, I decided to do a clean install. BAD idea. Nothing, and I mean nothing, that I needed to run would install. I assume it is due to the installers not liking the Windows version when it checked the system... Result is I reinstalled Vista 64 and I am back in business.

So, the RS USB cable worked fine for me with the Vista -> Win7 upgrade. NOT when Win7 was clean installed.

-- Kevin

Haha great. I did a clean install on my other laptop. Goothing I got a good ol XP back up

[jnewell]

Had no troubles installing or using the cable on either of my Vista machines with the included drivers - have not updated the driver yet from the FT website.

[kevins669]

Originally Posted by bballjh

Haha great. I did a clean install on my other laptop. Goothing I got a good ol XP back up

Oh, and I might add, after the clean install of Windows 7, these programs would not install for me using Vista Compatibility mode, either.

-- Kevin

[splash1]

I could be wrong but , I thought in another thread it was said not to use the driver cd that came with the rs 20-247 cable. let vista find the drivers and install on its own.

[DonS]

Originally Posted by splash1

I could be wrong but , I thought in another thread it was said not to use the driver cd that came with the rs 20-247 cable. let vista find the drivers and install on its own.

That recommendation may stem from the fact that the cable comes with some pretty old drivers, while Vista will find the most recent drivers from the USB/Serial part manufacturer (FTDI's driver version 2.04.06, from March 2008).

[jnewell]

Over one weekend I installed both the RS cable and a Belkin serial-USB converter. One installed with the OS finding the right drivers, the other didn't - I might be mis-remembering which was which. It might have been the RS that Vista found an up to date driver for...

[kevins669]

Originally Posted by jnewell

Over one weekend I installed both the RS cable and a Belkin serial-USB converter. One installed with the OS finding the right drivers, the other didn't - I might be mis-remembering which was which. It might have been the RS that Vista found an up to date driver for...

As Don stated, Vista will find the right ones for the RS / GRE cable. I had downloaded the FTDI drivers ahead of time, to ensure it would work with Vista64 last year when I got it. If I remember right, XP does NOT find the driver. But, that was at least a year ago... Windows Update may be, well, updated.

-- Kevin

[intermod]

Tried KD5DGA's approach on Vista 64 Ultimate Service Pack 2 using a 26-183 cable and OEM disk, both for WinXP SP2 and Win2000. Niether woked here. Even let windows do a net search for the drivers. But the Win2000 selection resulted in my display being reset to 256 colors (which was the wizards' default). Had to reset the display back to the correct resolution and/or color settings. Also - it appeared (but not confirmed) that it also eliminated all my previous system restore points (it must have turned this off, then on again, which removes them - guess).

There was mention of using some FTDI drivers - but the poster failed to indicate if it was for 64. I will try the Vista64 from here next:

Virtual COM Port Drivers

[DonS]

Originally Posted by intermod

Tried KD5DGA's approach on Vista 64 Ultimate Service Pack 2 using a 26-183 cable and OEM disk, both for WinXP SP2 and Win2000. Niether woked here. Even let windows do a net search for the drivers. But the Win2000 selection resulted in my display being reset to 256 colors (which was the wizards' default). Had to reset the display back to the correct resolution and/or color settings. Also - it appeared (but not confirmed) that it also eliminated all my previous system restore points (it must have turned this off, then on again, which removes them - guess).

There was mention of using some FTDI drivers - but the poster failed to indicate if it was for 64. I will try the Vista64 from here next:

Virtual COM Port Drivers

The FTDI driver definitely works. I've been using FTDI's releases for over a year on a Vista Ultimate (64-bit) laptop with no problems.