It is generally recommend to print files on the Altair from the included Micro SD card; however, it is possible to access or run your Altair over a USB connection by using the Smoothie driver to communicate with the PC. If you use Windows 8.1 or earlier and are having trouble connecting to your Altair on a PC download and install the driver below and try reconnecting to the printer through your host program (such as Simplify 3D or Matter Control).
Windows 10
There is no need to install the smoothie drivers on Windows 10. In fact installing the drivers on Windows 10 may cause trouble.
Windows 8.1
Note: Windows 8.1 is known to not like the driver below. For more information please see: http://smoothieware.org/windows-drivers
How to install the Window driver files manually
Download the driver files zip and unzip it somewhere. You can use whatever you like so long as you remember it later. The Smoothie sdcard might be a convenient place in case you end up needing the driver in the future.
Click the "start" button and pull up the control panel. From there, we want to open the device manager. Now we need to locate the device to install. You may find up to two "Smoothie Serial" devices. Here is an example of what you might see:
Right-click the first one and select "Update Driver Software"
Find where you unzipped the driver.
You should now have a recognized "Smoothie Virtual Serial Port". You might have two of them if that option is enabled in config.Note that your com ports might be different numbers (mine are 9 and 10). The port numbering can be changed through the advanced port properties, but you shouldn't really need to do that. Also note that "smoothie DFU" is still unrecognized. This is fine. You can ignore that.
Occasionally some Windows configurations may still have trouble with getting the drivers to work properly. More information can be found here: http://smoothieware.org/windows-drivers