Whether you want to check if a specific serial device is sending or receiving data as it should, or you need to see which data is going through the exact COM port, Serial Port Monitor will easily capture, log, and present the data in an extremely easy-to-read way. More than that, the advanced filtering and search options supported by the program will greatly simplify your work.
Anytime you need to read data going via a particular serial port, you can connect to it with advanced Serial Port Monitor even if the port has already been opened by another program. The software will capture data in real time and show it in one of its viewing modes (or all of them at a time, if necessary), so you can immediately compare and analyze it.
What's also nice is that the software allows copying the captured data to the clipboard or redirecting it to a file. This way, for instance, you can read and save serial input/output control codes (IOCTLs) with full details and parameters.
Another thing that you can find extremely useful about the program is its ability to sniff several COM ports simultaneously. With this unique option, you can check how your serial app communicates with multiple interfaces or devices at a time within one monitoring session. Plus, the received and sent data will be recorded into a single log using the first-in first-out method, which is especially convenient for data analysis.
Learn more about the basic principles of Modbus communication and the most efficient Modbus monitoring software and hardware solutions for testing and debugging Modbus-based devices and networks with Modbus tester guide.
The line status indicators (LEDs) of this software do not qualify this software as a breakout box. When the output signals are low or in their inactive state, the output voltage is NEGATIVE (-) 12 VOLTS, which is a very dangerous voltage to test with.
Old question, but very relevant. While serial ports may be gone from consumer devices these days, it is still very much used in industrial hardware, point of sale hardware, radios, etc. In my case I was trying to capture a communications session from a configuration software tool for some hardware equipment.
UPDATE in 2020: This very old question was relevant in 2010, but is now obsolete. There are plenty of open source serial monitor tools nowadays, notably the Arduino serial monitor tool, just to name one. This question can probably be deleted as it is no longer 'a problem.'
My original answer from 2010: The only one I have found for x64 is "Advanced Serial Port Monitor," which is really quite good. Not free, priced at $60 USD for a single user license. There is a 15-day trial. Honestly, I've been hoping (for quite a while now) that Mark R. would release a 64-bit version of portmon.
If you are a software and hardware developer working with serial ports, you often need a reliable serial port monitor that allows you to capture, display, analyze, record, and replay all serial port data exchanged between your application and the serial device. Such a software tool helps you to expedite your application development, device driver, or serial hardware development. It also works as a flexible platform for effective coding, testing, and optimization.
The next utility that has drawn my attention is the Virtual Serial Port Driver, again by Eltima. Virtual Serial (COM) Port Driver emulates virtual serial ports and connects them in pairs via a virtual null modem cable. It assists in building bundles of virtual serial ports that allows the user to customize port parameters. Besides, the virtual serial port technology can be fully integrated into custom software, and the virtual serial ports emulate and support all standard hardware signal lines like DTR/DSR, RTS/CTS, RING, ERROR, DCD, etc. The list of capabilities includes:
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RS232 standard is popular in many scientific directions and is widely used for lab equipment, quality and process controllers, various sensors, measuring tools, etc. However, you may experience some issues while trying to analyze serial port activity. A number of aspects have to be taken into consideration: hardware and cabling, communication settings and protocols. To be able to perform COM monitor activities successfully and detect any issues with serial data, you'll need a reliable serial port sniffer with a comprehensive RS232 activity log.
First on our list is Serial Port Analyzer - a high-quality COM port sniffer product that can log, display and help you analyze RS232/422/485 port activity in the system. Getting all the data from this useful app allows for quality application and driver development, as well as testing and debugging of COM port devices. No additional hardware is required for RS232 port Monitor solution by Eltima. There are Standard and Professional editions depending on your needs.
With RS232 Analyzer you can connect to ports that are already open and start monitoring at once. Data is captured in real-time and displayed conveniently. Data packets are easy to compare. You can record IOCTLs with all the details and parameters.
This COM port sniffer can monitor several ports at once so users can get the data on how apps interact with several serial devices within a session. The collected data can be viewed as table, line, dump or terminal, with sump view being able to show binary, ASCII data and port settings. Another great feature this serial port testing software offers is emulating data transmission to a serial device so you can see and analyze the reaction of a device to certain commands and data. You can send string, binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal, or mixed data.
Serial Port Analyzer is the most precise RS232 testing software thanks to the possibility to reproduce the monitoring session in order to review certain port behavior with the same parameters used in different conditions.
With free serial port monitoring you can connect to real or virtual COM port and monitor the transmitted data. Specify the textual content record to keep all intercepted records to for your analysis. RS232 Logger will show how many bytes are saved in the log file and all records logged from the serial port in a complete way.
Serial Port Monitor customer's feedback
When trying to build a custom dashboard for a third party Li-Ion Battery Management System based on Texas Instruments BQ76940 and Atmel 8-bit line of microcontrollers, the integrated circuit manufacturer provided a "brief" description of the communication protocol. This description wasn't enough or complete, so analyzing the protocol transmitted while using the manufacturer provided Windows based dashboard was a must. Eltima's Serial Port Monitor with the capability of "sniffing" open serial ports on Windows platform was the best tool to do the job. Now I can see in realtime the protocol flow and understand the documentation, saving me a lot of trial and error while programming. I'm very happy of having found this piece of software.
Advanced Serial Port Monitor is perfect for performing serial monitoring of the peripheral devices connected to your computer. The free Serial Port Logger lets you connect with up to 255 physical and virtual serial ports and save data transmission information to a file. Analysis of your serial traffic can be done at any time by accessing the saved data.
As soon as you connect a serial device to a computer you can begin to monitor its data flow. Advanced Serial Port Monitor allows you to study the details of serial traffic and ports when used with scanners, meters, and any other type of device that connects to your machine through a COM interface.
Another software solution, without any hardware needed. Free Serial Port Monitor can intercept, display and analyze data exchange between a device and a serial application. Also a useful solution for software, device driver or serial hardware development that helps you test, debug, and optimize your product. It will dig into data flows and protocols and display everything in a comprehensive way.
SerialMon is a free RS232 port analyzer for Windows that takes up little space. It can monitor serial port communication through software or with a simple hardware solution. Supports ABB RP570, ABB SPA-bus and NMEA 0183 protocols.
Portmon can monitor and display all serial port activity in a system. Also a good tool for tracking down possible issues with apps or devices configurations and analyzing serial port usage by the apps. This solution offers remote monitoring. You can monitor many remote computers at the same time. Multiple filters help you see the data conveniently and analyze it faster. This COM monitor can export captured data to a file like the previously reviewed solutions.
Portmon for Windows
Thank you for reading our top serial monitor tools selection. Whatever you are working on, choose a reliable and best performing piece of software to achieve the most satisfying results. To find out the most comprehensive solution for your needs, read the overview of Serial Port Monitor utilities.
After years of working with the serial port, the above-listed must indeed add SerialTool. It's a fairly recent software and not listed among Ocar.
As I was saying, after years of using the classic RealTerm, I found this software that finally was able to do something more for the serial port.
The real reason, in fact, is that it is by far the most complete and best-functioning software even on MacOS and Apple. For those who use Apple laptops, it's a real drama to find software that works decently.
SerialTool is really cool in this regard. Let me spend a few minutes telling you what I managed to do as often we just put a link. First of all, it also works on Linux (I haven't personally tested it) and therefore it's truly cross-platform. It has a nice hexadecimal editor and allows you to quickly search for packet strings in all generated traffic.
It allows you to record everything to files and has a dedicated serial oscilloscope feature. The nice thing is that you can set alarms in case certain packets arrive or don't arrive. This thing was essential for me. You can find it explained here: Serial Port Alarm Trigger. Furthermore, when a certain packet arrives, the software allows you to automatically replicate it with a selected buffer. Extremely useful for those using Arduino and need to run tests. You can find this auto-response feature here: Serial Port Auto Answer.