Hi i'm having trouble downloading the trial version of Mach3, i have a machine coming with mach3 installed so i thought i would download the trial version to have a look but my laptop wont let me download it it lets me get right up to the installing parallel port driver and thats it, if i hit next it just says drives not found and supported then just sends error codes after that. i've contacted the support line they offered a few suggestions and none of them worked now art have said thats its not there problem and its my machine is 6months old running windows 11 . can anyone have an idea on the next step

Just a thought but you cannot install the Parallel Port driver onto a Windows11 operating system.

you're kidding

Mach3 Minimum Recommended Requirements...

Requirements if using the parallel port for machine control:

Desktop PC with at least one parallel port
(Laptops are not supported)
32-bit version of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
(64-bit versions will not work)
1Ghz CPU
512MB RAM
Non-integrated Video Card with 32MB RAM
(Large G-code files, especially 3D files will require a video card with 512MB RAM or higher)

Requirements if using an external motion device for machine control:

An appropriate external motion controller
(options can be found on the Plugins page)
Desktop or Laptop with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 / 11.
1Ghz CPU
512MB RAM
Video Card with 32MB RAM
(Large G-code files, especially 3D files will require a video card with 512MB RAM or higher)

what plugin are you referring to the parallel port legacy or a different one 

There is only one parallel port legacy plugin, the one that's bundled into Mach3 when you download it.  Your laptop doesn't have a parallel port and Mach 3 parallel port wont work with Win11 or 64 bit anyway.  What PC and OS is coming?  Win 10 certanly supports M3 fine but with a USB or Ethernet motion controller so I guess Win11 will too.

If you want to use a laptop with Mach3 then an external motion controller is the way forward.
For many years I used the Warp9TD ESS motion controller but have now switched all my machines to using the CNC Drive UC400ETH motion controller which, for my requirements, has been found easier to use.
There are a number of different and good motion controllers available but choose an EU or USA manufactured product and aviod the Chinese ones (which are cheap but iffy).

Ther are some motion controller show on this page;  https://www.machsupport.com/downloads-updates/mach4-downloads/

Hope this helps.

Ok thank you for this information I’ve got a cnc router coming which plugin would you recommend

Well, I use the UC100 from CNCDrive.  This uses a USB connection but it works fine for me on both a lathe and a mill on WIN10.  You can download the required Mach3 plugin from their website http://cncdrive.com/ .  There are various clones of this device from China - make sure you get a genuine one and the genuine plugin.  You can also get controllers which use an Ethernet interface and many here recommend these over USB but I think USB works fine if you don't need a lot of I/O and don't have a lot of electrical noise around your workshop, and you aren't going to be running the axes very fast  The UC100 is limited to a maximum step pulse rate of 100 kHz.