Why is driver reinstall needed for USB devices when plugged into different socket?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bo Berglund
  • Start date Start date
B

Bo Berglund

I am really annoyed by this...
Example:
I have a couple of USB-RS232 adapters for my laptop. When I plugged
the first one in to the USB socket, XP found new hardware and the
wizard appeared etc.
Next time I inserted the *same* unit into the other socket the same
thing happened and I had to go look for the drivers again even though
they were already on the system from the first time...
If I plug the unit into the same socket again nothing happens except
the port is attached and usable.
Sometimes I need to expand USB slots using a hub and now again the
driver install happens. REALLY annoying!

But worst of all is that for every new insert and driver install there
seems to be a new COM port number associated with the converter. I am
now up to COM19 with my two com port converters and a few hubs.

How can I stop this from happening?

Happens also with other devices like the USB ISDN adapter I have.

/Bo
 
That's the way the USB system works. Put your drivers in a directory on your
harddrive and point the hardware installer to that directory when that
happens, or mark your devices so that you always use the same port.
 
Or point it to %windir%\system32 or %windir%\system32\drivers or
%windir%\inf depending on the driver prompt in question...
 
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