Prolific PL2303 USB-to-Serial port adapter driver fails to install

Good Work.

Here is the thread Gunn317 found the link on as there is another updated recommendation.
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistahardware/thread/a366f74b-9853-4cae-95c3-4249172951da

Message from NBolton :

"Thanks for all your suggestions.  However, none of them have solved the problem.

I came across this link from a blog on the internet - - which has solved the problem

http://www.usglobalsat.com/download/546/win_drivers.zip

I'm using Vista Home Premium 64-bit.  The driver worked first time.

Many thanks again - problem solved!"

Gugabf confirmed it worked and is a newer version of the driver.

Could be even newer drivers available now - maybe check with Prolific.

Installing the Prolific PL-2303 driver and the “The device cannot be started (code 10)" was such a head ache. But it appears that I found the workaround and the problem. I have installed and used this technique on XP, Vista and Win7 (32 and 64 bit). And I never ran the “compatibility wizard or tried to change the compatibility. I just ran the installer on whatever system I put it on…

Apparently the driver from http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31 DOES work however I think the installer program corrupts SER2PL.SYS, the very driver that is needed.  Here’s my workaround.

Download from Prolific http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31
1. PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v1.5.0.zip   
2. PL2303DRemover_v1001.zip

And from http://sysfiles-download.com/sysindex/ser2pl.sys.html#edown
1. Download ser2pl.sys
2. Don’t worry about the other 3 or 4 files that come with it ALL YOU NEED IS SER2PL.SYS

Ok let’s get started,

* REMEMBER WHERE YOU EXTRACTED ALL THE FILES TO INCLUDING SER2PL.SYS
* After all downloads and extractions from Zip, run the prolific driver installer.
* Run the PL2303 remover program, all this does is remove the SER2PL.SYS file from your system.

NOW comes the fun part (/sarc)

Go to your device manager (your Prolific USB to Serial cable plugged in)
* XP> control panel > System> Hardware tab>Device Manager. Click on “ports (com & LPT)
* Or however you know how to get there!
You should see the “prolific” device, “Prolific USB to Serial COM Port (com#)”  If you don’t it’s not plugged in!
* right click and select “update driver”
*  select “install from a list, or specific place(advanced)
* On the next menu select the radio button “search for the best driver in these locations”
* Deselect the tick box for “search for removable media”
* Select the tick box for “Include this location in the search”
* Browse to the folder where you extracted and saved the SER2PL.SYS file. 
* Press next and install the driver.

Your USB to SERIAL cable now works!
This is the process I used for XP and it is in general the same process I used for Vista and  Win7 (32 and 64 Bit).

Sourdough

Thank you so much for this info. I use Windows 7 and It took some fiddling around, but finally worked. I had to copy the new ser2pl.sys file to the windows location though (C:/windows/system32/drivers) to make it happen.

The only place I could get a download to work for the ser2pl.sys file was http://www.floridaprobe.com/usb_install.htm - I couldn't get any other download location to work.

Thanks for the quick reply. I wasn't installing as the "Run As Admin" link at first, even though my account has Admin rights. But yes, then I started doing that, no change.

However, I'm happy to say I found the problem! After posting this, I did a search in these forums and came across ONE other post that had lots of feedback...someone in that one posted a link to drivers which I had not tried. The thread is here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistahardware/thread/a366f74b-9853-4cae-95c3-4249172951da .

The Vista drivers from cooldrives (http://www.cooldrives.com/wividrforprc.html) did the trick! I have no idea of the lineage of this driver package but they worked. And they worked when the ones on the included CD did not; when the ones from the Sabrent website did not, and when the ones from the Prolific website did not.

Thanks,

Tom

Wow.....the Vista drivers link you mentioned here really works. I installed this on a Windows 7 x64 system. I was lucky i stumbled upon this forum rather instantly. Thumbs up!

According to this: 5 Steps for Choosing the Best USB to Serial adapter there are several factors that determins if the USB to serial adapter is good or bad quality. Apparently the Prolific chipset has a lot of problems. I have always been using an adapter with FTDI chipset, neve had any serious problems with that.