Article ID: 930086 - Last Review: March 15, 2007 - Revision: 1.4

The option to use a serial cable connection or an infrared link is unavailable when you create an incoming connection in Windows Vista

When you create an incoming connection in Windows Vista, the option to use a serial cable connection or an infrared link is unavailable.

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Windows Vista does not support direct incoming connections that either use a serial cable or an infrared link.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use one of the following connection types to connect two or more computers in a network:

An Ethernet connection
A wireless connection
A home phone network adapter (HPNA) technology connection

For more information about how to configure a network in Windows Vista, visit the following Microsoft Web sites:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/networking.mspx (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/networking.mspx)

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/76174f4a-7522-425a-9424-324dd299265e1033.mspx (http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/76174f4a-7522-425a-9424-324dd299265e1033.mspx)

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STATUS

This behavior is by design.

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Earlier versions of Windows use the Routing and Remote Access service to support direct connections by using a serial cable or by using an infrared link. However, Windows Vista does not support these types of connections.

For more information about networking in Windows Vista, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905087.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905087.aspx)

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