I’ve had this problem a couple times and the solution seems to be slightly different each time. The problem presents itself as a Device in Device Manager showing “”The Device Cannot Start (Code 10)” after you’ve installed the Prolific PL-2303 Drivers from the Prolific website. Which are available here: http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31
The solution is to use a similar driver set floating around on the internet here: http://www.usglobalsat.com/download/546/win_drivers.zip
Unzip the file and install the executable within. That fix solved the problem for me instantly. To make sure that the new driver take priority over the other one in Windows 7 right click on the device and go to Unistall and check “Delete the driver software for this device”. I found this solution on the microsoft social forums here.
great solution it is working in Windows 7 64-bit thanks
Perfect solution, thanks very much W7 Running
[...] Prolific PL-2303 driver Device Cannot Start Windows Vista 64bit … [...]
Worked like a charm (on x64). Thanks.
I was pointed here claiming this fix was for Win7 x64, but I can vouch for the fact that it also helps in Win7 x86. We’ve set up several USB-Serial adapters in windows 7 32-bit with no issues, but a particular brand kept going Code 10.
So this fix also helps this problem in 32-bit Win7.
Thanks Bro…..It works for me…..Thank you very much…
Thank you! You solved my problem!
It works fine and instantly!
This driver which I got from the Prolific site worked for me: PL2303_Prolific_GPS_1013_20090319. Supposedly it fixes a problem with a GPS device, but I am using it successfully for a USB to Serial adapter.