Comment: CP2102 (used by @OldSurferDude) and FTDI (used by @byteman59) are both common USB to serial chips widely deployed. Unfortunately FTDI were widely cloned by the Chinese industry over many years, so about ten years ago FTDI released device drivers to the vendors that bricked them. This was more common with Windows than Linux, so be careful with testing your USB to serial adapter on a Windows computer, as it may be attacked and bricked by the device driver as soon as you connect it, unless it has a genuine FTDI chip onboard.
This unprecedented and deliberate act of bastardry quickly put the FTDI cloners out of business, but long-term made people wary of using anything FTDI and other serial chips such as the 2102 become a favorite that is how widely used. So long term, FTDI’s reputation and sales have been harmed, the industry avoiding them altogether in case they get caught out in the future.
I would look at your USB Serial adapter carefully to check if it a clone and has been bricked and keep it away from any non-Linux/Homeassistant environment in the future.
Yes, you may have got a FTDI clone dud. Maybe return it for a refund and get a non-FTDI USB to serail adapter - they are cheap. If you have already taken the alternative path financially, put it down to a bad experience with chinese cloning.
[Apologies to @OldSurferDude, just my experience of so-called irrelevant things showing.]
