Any way to use fixed Windows serial port with Arduino Leonardo?

Projects Interfacing w/ Software on the Computer
1

I have a program that runs in Windows that sends data through five different serial ports to five different Arduinos. Each Arduino has to be assigned to the same serial port every time I turn on my Windows computer and the Arduinos, so that the correct data gets sent to the correct Arduino.

With Arduino Unos, that is not a problem, since Windows remembers which Arduino goes to which serial port. But with Arduino Leonardos, that is a problem, because the Leonardo uses a virtual serial port and apparently that makes any Leonardo indistinguishable from any other Leonardo. So every time I turn the Windows computer on again, I have to set up the serial ports to match them up with the Leonardo they go with.

Is there any way to use a fixed Windows serial port with an Arduino Leonardo? I can't think of how to do that, given the virtual serial port scheme used in the Leonardo, but wonder if there is a way around that problem.

Thank you.

2

Why not have the Arduino send some identifier when it connects, so the Windows app knows which Arduino is which? Then, it would not matter which port it was on.

3

PaulS, thanks, that's a good suggestion. But I'd like to avoid the overhead of doing that, if I can. As near as I can tell, the Leonardo has to set up a virtual serial port for every communication. That makes it hard to use four different Leonardos, as I'm doing. With Arduino Unos, it's easy.