Guides

How to find your Device's Port

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Choose Your Computer's OS

Skip to the section below that matches your operating system.

Windows

Open Device Manager

On your keyboard, press and hold the Windows key, then press R to open run menu. Type "devmgmt.msc" in the text field and click "Ok" to open device manager.

The Windows Run dialog with devmgmt.msc typed in the 'Open' field and the OK button, both outlined in red.

Open device manager using the run menu.

Identify the Port

Locate entry labeled "Ports (COM & LPT)". Expand the entry by clicking on the small arrow to the left of the text. Take note of the items that currently there.

Windows Device Manager's list of device categories, with 'Ports (COM & LPT)' expanded and outlined in red; it holds one item, 'Communications Port (COM1)'.

Locate 'Ports (COM & LPT)' section in the device manager.

Now, plug in your device. You should see a new item appear. Followed by "(COMX)", where "X" is a integer. This "COMX" is the name of your port.

The same Device Manager list after plugging in: 'Ports (COM & LPT)' now holds 'Communications Port (COM1)' and 'Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge (COM6)', with a red note reading 'My device's port is COM6.'

Identify new item after plugging in your device.

Linux

Open a terminal. In the terminal enter ls /dev/tty*.

A Linux terminal after the command ls /dev/tty*, outlined in red, listing /dev/tty, /dev/tty0 to /dev/tty63 and /dev/ttyS0 to /dev/ttyS3.

List files in dev directory starting with 'tty'.

Now plug in your device and again enter ls /dev/tty*. The full path to the new item that appears is the port of your device. For example, if "ttyUSB0" appears, then the port of the device is "/dev/ttyUSB0".

The same ls /dev/tty* listing after plugging in, with one new entry at the end, /dev/ttyUSB0, outlined in red.

Identify new file in dev directory after device is plugged in. For this example my port would be '/dev/ttyUSB0'.

MacOSX

Driver Installation

If this is your first time connecting an ESP8266 to your computer, you will need to install the SiLabs USB to UART driver in order for your computer to detect the device. Go to this link and scroll down to the "Macintosh OSX" section. Click on the "Download VCP" liink to download the driver.

The Silicon Labs page section 'Download for Macintosh OSX (v5.2.4)': a table row for Mac OSX whose 'Download VCP (832 KB)' link is outlined in red, beside 'Download Mac VCP Revision History'.

Identify the Port

Using spotlight search enter "terminal" and open the terminal application. In the terminal enter ls /dev/tty* and observe the output. Now plug your ESP8266 NodeMCU into your computer and enter ls /dev/tty* again. You should notice a new item is output called "/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART". This is the port of your device.

A Mac terminal after ls /dev/tty*, listing /dev/tty, /dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port, a printer port and many /dev/ttyp and /dev/ttys entries, with /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART outlined in red.

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