The PL2303 driver, the Prolific driver, is used to connect devices and Windows PCs using a USB-to-serial cable. Serial ports are used to connect various types of devices to computers, including industrial equipment, sensors, telescopes, GPS units, and more.
However, Windows 11 requires specific drivers to recognize and connect the two devices. The operating system downloads specific drivers from Microsoft servers when you connect your computer with such devices without ready drivers.
Sometimes, a specific driver is not available on Microsoft servers, or the Windows settings you configured cannot download drivers for the device you are connecting to. In this case, you need to download the driver from its official website.
However, it is easy to install the PL2303 driver on Windows 11 and doesn’t need much time.
How to Download and Install the PL2303 Driver?
First download the PL2303 driver from the official website of the PL2303 driver, and then install the PL2303 driver on the Windows 11 PC.
Visit prolific.com.tw. Click on the Windows 11 Compatible “PL2303 Drivers” zip file link. Then start downloading.
Once the download is complete, right-click the .ZIP file you downloaded, and from the context menu, click the “Extract All” option to extract the contents of the zip file to a folder in that directory.
A window will pop up, click the “Extract” button in the lower right corner of the window to extract the contents of the zip file to a folder in that directory.
Once everything is extracted, go to the folder and find the .EXE file. Double-click the .EXE file and run the file.
The Smart Screen window will appear. Click the “More Info” button on the window to expand the details.
Click the Run Anyway button at the bottom of the page.
Then a UAC (User Account Control) screen will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an administrator account, enter a credential, otherwise, click the “Yes” button to continue.
From the Setup Wizard window, click the Next button in the lower right corner of the window.
Next, the PL2303 driver will be installed on your PC.
After the PL2303 driver installation is complete, click the “Finish” button in the lower right corner of the window to close the window.
That’s all for installing the PL2303 driver on Windows 11. Now you can use USB-to-serial cable peripherals on your Windows 11 computer.
