How to use the IR829/809 Mini-USB Console Cable with Windows 10

[nathan]

The blue mini-USB console cable that is included with the IR829 (and other 800 series devices) connects the mini-USB console port, under the screwed down plate, to a USB port on your PC. The two main aspects to think about when using Windows as a client for a console connection via the mini-USB cable are determining which COM port to connect to, and which terminal emulation software to use.

Windows used to be shipped with HyperTerminal, so many people are accustomed to using that as a console client. HyperTerminal is licenced software ($65), so that may not be what you want. A free alternative, and arguably simpler to use, is PuTTY, which I shall describe below.

Either tool, and others like them, will connect to a COM port. The trick is knowing which. In Windows 10, before you insert the USB console cable, you can open the "Device Manager" to see the available COM ports (type "Device Manager" into the Cortana field). The Device Manager will display a tree of devices on your PC. Open "Ports (COM & LPT)" and you may see some ports already (what you will see depends on your PC's configuration). Then, plug in the USB console cable and additional ports will appear. In my case COM4 and COM5, specifically "Silicon Labs Dual CP210x USB to UART Bridge: Standard COM Port (COM4)", and the same for COM5.

One of those ports, COM4 or COM5 or whichever appears for you, will work for serial connection purposes with PuTTY, or other terminal emulators.

You can run PuTTY by typing "Putty" in Cortana, and then selecting the "PuTTY Desktop app" icon that should appear. The PuTTY Configuration  window will appear, defaulting to "SSH" settings. Select the "Serial" radio button and the fields will change to show a "Serial line" field and a "Speed" field. The Serial line field will have a default value, typically, of "COM1". You will need to change that to one of the COM ports that appeared when you were looking at the Device Manager as described above, e.g. COM4. The Speed value should stay at the default of 9600.

After changing the Serial line value, press return and a console window should appear with a prompt. If there is no prompt, try again with a different COM port value, COM5 say.

It is possible that the drivers required to make this work are not present in your copy of Windows. In which case you may need to install them. The drivers here may work for you: Cisco Systems

Also see How to use the IR829/809 Mini-USB Console Cable with OSX El Capitan 10.11, How to use a Serial-USB Console Cable with the IR829/809 and OSX El Capitan 10.11 and How to use the IR829 Mini-USB Console Cable with Linux.

[vakamath]

We are trying to configure a new IR809 via console using putty. We've installed the appropriate drivers and the device is recognised on the COM6 and the COM7 port. The parameters that we have used are: Baud Rate - 9600, Data bits - 8, Parity - none, Stop bits - 1, Flow control - none. We are not able to get a prompt on the putty console. PFA a image of the putty console and the settings used for your reference. Can you please let us know if we are missing anything? Also, is there any other way to console into it?

Thanks.

Regards,

Varun

[mukeala66]

Hello Varun,

I had the same issue with PUTTY and then I used the SecureCRT and that solved my problem.

[aurcisco1]

These drivers work as recommended by Cisco:

USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers | Silicon Labs

[bnewtown96]

Dude this saved my life lol I was looking for my manufacturer's drivers and bang my head on the wall. Thank you!

[ville.paananen]

Hi

Any solution for this i also try SecureCRT and still not able to login to device

Any help?

[Steve Zhang]

Please refer to Cisco IR829 Industrial Integrated Services Router Hardware Installation Guide - Connecting the Router [Cisco 800 Series … . and make sure to install the driver from USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers | Silicon Labs.

[Atazazuddin Shaikh]

Thank you!! for sharing the details and driver link, I had same issue today and after installing the driver Console connection worked for me.  Once again thank you!!

- Zack

[iroperto1]

How were you able to get an imagine on Putty. I downloaded the drivers no imagine on putty.  

[iroperto1]

I downloaded the drivers. However, I get no imagine on putty. 

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@nathan wrote:

The blue mini-USB console cable that is included with the IR829 (and other 800 series devices) connects the mini-USB console port, under the screwed down plate, to a USB port on your PC. The two main aspects to think about when using Windows as a client for a console connection via the mini-USB cable are determining which COM port to connect to, and which terminal emulation software to use.

Windows used to be shipped with HyperTerminal, so many people are accustomed to using that as a console client. HyperTerminal is licenced software ($65), so that may not be what you want. A free alternative, and arguably simpler to use, is PuTTY, which I shall describe below.

Either tool, and others like them, will connect to a COM port. The trick is knowing which. In Windows 10, before you insert the USB console cable, you can open the "Device Manager" to see the available COM ports (type "Device Manager" into the Cortana field). The Device Manager will display a tree of devices on your PC. Open "Ports (COM & LPT)" and you may see some ports already (what you will see depends on your PC's configuration). Then, plug in the USB console cable and additional ports will appear. In my case COM4 and COM5, specifically "Silicon Labs Dual CP210x USB to UART Bridge: Standard COM Port (COM4)", and the same for COM5.

One of those ports, COM4 or COM5 or whichever appears for you, will work for serial connection purposes with PuTTY, or other terminal emulators.

You can run PuTTY by typing "Putty" in Cortana, and then selecting the "PuTTY Desktop app" icon that should appear. The PuTTY Configuration  window will appear, defaulting to "SSH" settings. Select the "Serial" radio button and the fields will change to show a "Serial line" field and a "Speed" field. The Serial line field will have a default value, typically, of "COM1". You will need to change that to one of the COM ports that appeared when you were looking at the Device Manager as described above, e.g. COM4. The Speed value should stay at the default of 9600.

After changing the Serial line value, press return and a console window should appear with a prompt. If there is no prompt, try again with a different COM port value, COM5 say.

It is possible that the drivers required to make this work are not present in your copy of Windows. In which case you may need to install them. The drivers here may work for you: Cisco Systems

Also see How to use the IR829/809 Mini-USB Console Cable with OSX El Capitan 10.11, How to use a Serial-USB Console Cable with the IR829/809 and OSX El Capitan 10.11 and How to use the IR829 Mini-USB Console Cable with Linux.

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[chandlerbr]

Got a USB-serial cable with a FirePower 1010.  Windows 10 does not recognize the cable when only plugged into the PC/laptop.  Plug the mini-USB into the 1010 then Windows recognized it immediately (COM9) without needing to install any drivers.  Works fine with Putty and SecureCRT.  Also works fine on Catalyst 9300 switches.  I imagine it will work with any current Cisco platform that has a mini-USB console port but I have not tested to verify.