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I installed the latest bcd996p2 driver on my Windows 7 laptop

It was apparently the "first time" as when I plugged in the cable with radio connected, it had the "bubble" at the bottom right saying "Installing..... etc"
and finally says "Device Driver was not successfully installed"
          (repeat - NOT installed)
                  DRAT !
   - BUT THEN AGAIN.... GOOD.... AS I CAN NOW "DIAGNOSE"

Obviously, when plugging in the radio, windows beeped,
   the control panel > SYSTEM > DEVICE MANAGER SHOWED THE DRIVER
       No Joy in Scancat "detect comm ports"
     It showed comm ports 3&4 but they both show whether cable plugged in or not
        meaning the 3.4 are not for the "uniden"

So I used control panel and UNINSTALLED the BCD996 driver

I then downloaded our PL2303 V1.6 driver from

http://scancat.com/drivers/PL2303_Prolific_V1_6_0_DriverInstaller.zip

And Installed "IT" - same "error",
   "Device Driver was not successfully installed"
Plugged in the cable to computer and BCD996P2 produces same error and NO commport
           DOUBLE DRAT

So THEN I found my older "in line circuit" cable for the BCD396XT, and plugged IT in - It beeped, said Installing - but no "new commport"
So Then I went to control panel, and this time clicked on the PL2303 driver
     and told it to "check for updates"
It said "no new updates"..... but when I started up Scancat again
plugged in the "old IN Line Cable" and guess what?

         I now see COMM PORT "5"
      So - Plugged it into the OTHER USB socket
      said "installing.... and then says "successfully installed"
        this time it comes up as comm port "6"

So disconnected the "In line cable", and connected the "996 cable"
   Windows says "Installing etc etc....." but eventually still says
"Windows was unable to install your BCD996P2 Serial Port"

So the driver for the PL2303 isn't going to work for the BCD996P2

THEN - I downloaded just the "INF" files using this link
   http://scancat.com/drivers/BCD996P2-DRIVER_uniden_INF-FILES-ONLY.zip

   The ZIP contains the "inf" driver - but no installation program

        So I unzipped it into a "uniden Folder"
Clicked on the "BCD996" in my Control Panel's Comm ports
   and chose to UPDATE the driver,
>>>>>>>>>>>>   but I chose to "manually navigate" to where it was located.

It Installed "OK", and Now I have a Comm port "7" for the BCD996P2

http://scancat.com/drivers/BCD996P2-DRIVER_uniden_INF-FILES-ONLY.zip
MAYbe if you just go get this one, and MANUALLY tell it to update/install
It might work for "you" too.

ALL in ALL, I now can plug in Both the BCD996P2 or my older "BCD396XT cable