How do I install the USB to serial port driver in order to use the USB-only temperature/humidity sensor?

Article ID: 213
Category: Environment Sensors
Applies to: 2.93 and higher
Updated: 2019-09-10

In order to use the USB-only temperature or humidity environment sensor, the Virtual COM port (VCP) drivers need to be installed on the host on which the sensor is to be connected. The VCP driver emulates a standard PC serial port such that the USB device may be communicated with as a standard RS232 device.

The EventSentry management console will attempt to automatically install this driver for you when you configure the sensor in the "Environment" settings, which can be found in the toolbar under Home > Environment. In the "General Settings" section of the Environment settings, when you change the "Scale & Type" from "Serial" to "USB" it will launch the automatic driver installation. Follow the installer menus to finish installing the driver.

If the driver cannot be automatically installed, or if you are trying to install the sensor on an agent-only machine, follow the manual driver installation instructions below.

  • We recommend that you wait to plug in the environment sensor until after the drivers have successfully been installed. If the sensor is already plugged in, unplug it before beginning the installer.
  • The driver installer, ftdichip_environment_usb_com_driver.exe, is located in the "resources" subfolder of the main EventSentry installation directory, e.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventSentry\resources". The installer works on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, and will begin installation by double-clicking it. You can copy the installer to an agent-only machine and install it there if the agent-only machine will have the sensor plugged in.
  • If the installer fails then it is recommended that you start the installer again from an administrator-level command prompt in order to observe any error messages that may be displayed.
  • After a successful driver installation, the sensor can be plugged in and should be recognized by Windows. If Windows prompts to search for drivers, choose the option to install the drivers automatically.

The latest drivers can also be downloaded from the FTDI web site at https://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm.