JSI Tip 7270. How do I list, disable, and enable COM ports?

When a COM port is incorrectly detected, it would be nice to have a tool to list the COM ports, and enable or disable them.

The COMDisable tool, from Microsoft, is available to address these needs.

COMDisable works on the following operating systems:

Windows Server 2003
Windows XP
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later

Syntax:

comdisable /list

comdisable /disable COMn

comdisable /enable COMn

Examples:

When I type comdisable /list on a Windows XP workstation, I receive:

COM1 - (Standard port types) - Communications Port (COM1) - Currently enabled
COM2 - (Standard port types) - Communications Port (COM2) - Currently enabled

If I wanted to disable COM2, I would type:

comdisable /disable com2

I would receive:

Port COM2 disabled, you need to reboot before the changes takes effect.

After restarting, If I wanted to enable COM2, I would type:

comdisable /enable com2

I would receive:

Port COM2 enabled, you need to reboot before the changes takes effect.