To ignore a USB device's serial number

  • Article

https://www.lvr.com/usbfaq.htm

During device testing, we attach many devices that are identical except for the serial numbers. How can I prevent Windows from asking to install a new driver every time a device is attached?

This method causes Windows 2000 and XP to ignore a device's serial number. It's recommended for test environments only.

This registry key controls whether Windows uses or ignores device serial numbers:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\UsbFlags]

It's possible to ignore all serial numbers, though this approach is NOT recommended. To ignore all serial numbers, in the above key, change this value to zero:

GlobalDisableSerNumGen = 1

To ignore the serial number for an individual device, create an entry under the above ...\UsbFlags key. The name must
start with "IgnoreHWSerNum" followed by the vendor and product ID of the device. A value of 1 = disable the serial number.

Example (Vendor ID = 0925h, Product ID = 016Ah):

IgnoreHWSerNum0925016A= 1