Troubleshooting Ant+ Connectivity Issues with Your Garmin Device in Zwift

If you're experiencing difficulties getting your Garmin device to connect via ANT+ within ZwFTPPC (or other supported applications), one potential culprit worth investigating is an issue related to the USB port being occupied by another program. In this article, we'll explore some steps to help resolve these connectivity issues.

Firstly, ensure that both your ANT+ antenna and USB cable are securely connected to a free USB port on your PC. If you're using a USB hub or extension cable between them, try plugging the device directly into one of your computer's available USB ports to rule out any potential signal degradation caused by intervening cables.

Once you've verified that both ends of the ANT+ connection are properly secured and there aren't any physical obstructions in their path, let's move onto checking whether another program on your system might be hijacking access to the USB port.

The following programs have been known to cause such conflicts:

1. Garmin Express

2. Suunto Movescount

3. Garmin ANT Agent

To resolve this issue, simply close all instances of these applications and then restart Zwift once more.

If closing them still doesn't work or if you're unable to locate any running copies within your Task Manager (Windows) / Activity Monitor (Mac), try temporarily disabling the respective service(s). For Windows users:

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously.

2. In the Processes tab, right-click on ' GarminANTAgent' and select 'Open file location.'

3. Within this directory, find a text document called 'GarminANTService.exe.config.' Double-click it to open with Notepad or your preferred text editor.

In the opened configuration window:

1. Look for within the root XML tag.

2. Find an entry named 'antDevicePort' and change its value from 0 (or any other number) back to -1.

3. Save changes by clicking File > Save All or pressing Ctrl + S on Windows.

After making these adjustments, restart your computer for them to take effect before attempting another connection via ANT+ in Zwift.

If none of the above steps resolve your connectivity issues with Garmin devices within ZwFTPPC, it may be helpful to consult further technical support resources provided by either Garmin or Suunto themselves.

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