Removing hidden Com ports on PC / High com numbers

[Drifter]

I suddenly noticed that some of my connections - especially Bluetooth were using using com port numbers up in the high 30's/40's which was a surprise.

Windows has a habit of assigning com ports to connections which, even after the device is removed, still remain allocated to that device. New devices then connect using the next free com port number and hey presto, before you know it, you are using com port 40- 50 or even 60.

Viewing the hardware configuration via - control panel, will not show these com ports as they are hidden... even selecting view hidden devices will not give you the option.. the only time they are visible is when the device is connected.

After a long trawl, I found the following instructions to clean up the devise list and remove legacy ports. From the difficulty I had in finding this , I suspect it is not well known, but may be of help or assistance to other users.

Rest assured, if you delete a port or device, a pc reboot or reconnect will reinstall the item, but in the case of a port, with a much lower number

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type cmd.exe in the textbox and click OK
4. Type set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1 and hit ENTER
5. Type cd\windows\system32 and hit ENTER
6. Type start devmgmt.msc and hit ENTER
7. When the device manager opens, click the View menu
8. Click Show Hidden Devices
9. Click on the + sign next to the Ports to see the full list of Com ports being used.
10. Highlight the port you wish to delete and then press delete. Accept when asked to do so and continue with any more that you wish to delete.

Have fun