In Windows 8 (& 8.1), 7 & Vista Operating Systems, you cannot load a driver or execute a program that hasn’t a Driver Signature. Driver Signing is a method to verify the identity of the software publisher or the hardware (driver) vendor in order to protect your system from been infected with malware rootkits, that are able to run on the lowest level of Operating System. This means that all drivers and programs must be digitally signed (verified) in order to be installed and run on latest Windows Operating Systems.
Digital Signatures ensure that the software publisher or hardware vendor is trusted and verified by Microsoft. But in real life, publishers and vendors cannot always pay Microsoft to verify all their products or Microsoft cannot verify all the drivers or programs that are published every day. But this becomes a problem in the case that you own an old unsigned legitimate software or driver and you want to install or load it to your computer, because the OS doesn’t allow it to work or load.
Problems-Symptoms that are solved with this guide:
– Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. (0xc0000428)
– Windows requires digitally signed driver OR Digitally signed driver is required.
– Digital Signature Not Found.
– Cannot load or install an unsigned driver.
– Cannot run (execute) an unsigned software (program).
– Windows did not find a Microsoft signature associated with the software package you want to install.
In order to resolve digitally signed driver installation errors, follow the steps below:
How to Disable Driver Signature Enforcement in Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Vista.
Attention: Keep in mind that disabling the Driver Signature Enforcement is a security risk, and you must disable it only if you are sure that the driver or program that you want to install and run is trusted and legitimate.
Solution 1: Disable Driver Signature once.
Solution 2: Disable Driver Signature completely.
Solution 1: Disable Driver Signature once.*
* Note: Use this solution to disable driver Signature Enforcement just once in order to install a unsigned driver (e.g. your old printer driver).
STEP 1. ENTER IN ADVANCED OPTIONS MENU.
Windows 7 & Vista
To enter in Advanced Options menu in Windows 7 and Vista OS:
- Close all programs and reboot your computer.
- Press the “F8” key as your computer is booting up, before the appearance of the Windows logo.
- When the “Windows Advanced Options Menu” appears on your screen, use your keyboard arrow keys to highlight the “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement” option and then press “ENTER“.
Windows 10, 8 & 8.1
To enter in Advanced Options menu in Windows 10, 8.1 & 8 OS:
1. Rightclick at the Windows Start button and select Shut Down or sign out.
2. Press and HOLD down the SHIFT key and then click Restart.
3. When Windows restarts, press“Troubleshoot” .
4. In the “Troubleshoot options” screen, choose “Advanced options”.
5. In the “Advanced Options” window, choose “Startup Settings”.
6. In “Startup Settings” screen, click “Restart”.
7. After restart, select the “Disable driver signature enforcement” option and press Enter. *
* Note: If you see the below screen (Startup Settings), press the “F7” (or the “7”) key on your keyboard to select the“Disable driver signature enforcement” option.
8. Then,proceed to install your unsigned driver. During the installation procedure, Windows will inform you that can’t verify the publisher of this driver software. At this point, ignore the warning message and choose “Install this driver software anyway” to complete the installation.
Normally installation should be done without errors now. Keep in mind that after the restart, the driver signature enforcement will be enabled again to avoid security risks. If you want to keep driver signature enforcement always disabled, then you must apply solution 2.
Solution 2: Disable Driver Signature completely.*
*Note: Use this solution only if you want to keep driver signature enforcement always disabled. (e.g. if you always want to run an old legitimate software).
In this solution, we are going to modify Windows Boot loader options with the BCDEDIT tool.
STEP 1. DISABLE SECURE BOOT IN BIOS.
1. Power On your computer and launch BIOS SETUP settings.
2. In BIOS, disable the Secure Boot option. (the setting is commonly found at Security section or atBoot Options section)
STEP 2. MODIFY WINDOWS BOOT LOADER.
– In order to modify boot loader, open “Command Prompt” in administrative mode:
1. Rightclick at the Windows Start button and choose “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
2. Choose “Yes” at User Account Control” warning message:
3. Inside the command prompt window, type the following command and press “Enter”:
- bcdedit /set testsigning on
You should receive “The operation completed successfully” message.
4. Close command prompt window and restart your computer.
From now on, you will be able to install or run any unsigned driver or program without problems.
How to enable Driver Signature Enforcement.
1. In case that you want to enable driver signature enforcement in the future and avoid security risks, then open “Command Prompt” with elevate rights again.
2. Type type the following command and press “Enter”
- bcdedit /set testsigning off
You should receive “The operation completed successfully” message.
3. Close command prompt window and restart your computer.
4. Install the unsigned driver. *
* Note: If you still cannot install unsigned drivers then:
1. Open a command prompt with Administrative privileges and type this command:
- bcdedit /set nointegritychecks ON
2. Restart your computer
3. Install the unsigned driver.
To re-enable device driver signing, again type: bcdedit /set nointegritychecks OFF
That’s it!
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