s7 200 serial port programming cable issue

Dear all,
I have these 2 problems.

1. siemens s7 200 programming cable 6ES7 901-3CB30-0XA0 (both ends serial ports). My laptop does not have a serial port.

2. I have a serial to use converter cable but the drivers for that cable does not support windows 8.1 (which is running on my laptop).

This is what I did.

1. Confirmed that the siemens programming cable is working by connecting it to a computer with a serial port and establishing communications with a PLC.

2. Installed a virtual windows XP machine on my laptop and connected the USB to serial converter cable. The cable shows up in device manager without any errors.

3. Tried to use that virtual COM port with step 7 microwin but the software does not connect with the PLC.

Does anyone have any comments regarding this?

https://support.industry.siemens.com/tf/ww/en/posts/connection-problem-between-pc-and-plc/83572/?page=0&pageSize=10

The above thread may help you out.

Regards,

Try it again and dont use XP Mode put it on your native, find the driver that will work with your Windows 8.1 machine and then try below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud6CfBzye8E

Even in XP Mode you will need to have the driver working on your 8.1 machine first