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

[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

 

[George Cruppi]

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.

 

[PaulAlex]

Or point it to %windir%\system32 or %windir%\system32\drivers or
%windir%\inf depending on the driver prompt in question...