How to Install PL-2303 Prolific Driver on Windows 10

The PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets are widely used in old USB-to-Serial adapters, but with the release of Windows 8, 8.1, and 10, it's no longer supported by these operating systems. This article will guide you on how to install your old USB-to-Serial adapter based on Profilic PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets on Windows 10.

To start, download the Profilic Windows 8/8.1 4-bit drivers from our Administrative Tools section and unzip them on your computer. Once done, go to Device Manager, find the Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port with an exclamation mark, right-click on it, and select Update Driver Software.

From the next window, select Browse my computer for driver software, then browse to the folder where you've unzipped the drivers, click on the Include Subfolders option, and select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. Next, select the driver version 3.3.2.102 dated as shown below and click Next.

After successful installation, Windows will confirm it by displaying a message box stating that the driver has been installed successfully. You can then return to Device Manager where you'll notice that the exclamation mark has disappeared, and your old 'Unsupported' USB-to-Serial adapter is now fully operational.

In this article, we've shown you how to make use of an old USB-to-Serial adapter that might also hold some special sentimental value. Although Profilic announced that these operating systems will not support USB-to-Serial adapters using the PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets, with these simple steps, you can still get your old adapter working on Windows 10.

The PL-2303 chipset is commonly used in many popular USB-to-Serial adapters found in the market. These adapters are very useful amongst Cisco engineers as they allow them to perform initial configurations of various Cisco equipment such as routers, switches, wireless controllers, access points, and more via their Console Port.

Pl2303 prolific driver windows 10