 <p>Finally I tried to work with different USB&lt;->CAN interface from different manufacturer and it worked like a charm. My old interface was either broken or incompatible for reasons unknown. While working on this problem I learned couple of things about CAN bus and so now I share what I think was the right answer to my original question: How to troubleshoot CAN bus communication?</p> <ul> <li>read manual to your USB-CAN interface</li> <li>install <strong>driver</strong> of your interface device and make sure it is working (check device manager, depending on the type of your device you will see new COM port added or new USB controller )</li> <li>your device should be shipped with it's own <strong>test/analysis software</strong> (they might call it utility or similar), run it and check if it can connect to your device</li> <li>CAN communication uses three wires that are referred to as <strong>High</strong>, <strong>Low</strong> and <strong>Ground</strong> and is usually connected with <strong>DB-9</strong> connectors where High is linked to pin n. 7, Low to pin n. 2 and Ground to pin n. 3 or 5 - make sure this is connected correctly on both your USB interface and CAN device you want to communicate with</li> <li>set properties of your connection, these are most of all: <strong>CAN type</strong> (2.0A or 2.0B) <strong>BAUD rate</strong>, <strong>Acceptance Code</strong> and <strong>Acceptance Mask</strong></li> <li>if you've done all of this and still you can see no CAN messages arriving in your utility program, <strong>check with a different USB-CAN interface</strong> or find some other way to test if your device is actually emitting CAN messages and your USB interface is in fact able to receive them. (this was actually my case)</li> </ul>