I love how much snappier Adobe Lightroom is when it's no longer shackled to the 2 GB limits that bit Windows requires. And I especially love that the main problem with bit Windows -- the lack of bit drivers -- is largely a thing of the past, save for those cases where vendors use the new architecture as a way to force you to upgrade and yes, I am talking to you, HP printer division and Cisco VPN folks. Once in a while, though, I run up against the the thing that I most don't like about bit Windows: the iron rule of driver signing.
Ever since XP and , the bit versions of Windows have refused to load kernel executables or device drivers unless those executables and drivers are digitally signed. Load a driver that's not signed, and bit Windows pops up some scary-looking message essentially saying, "take a walk, buddy, and take your unsigned driver with you I mean you don't really know where this thing's been, do you? There was once, briefly, a setting in bcdedit that would let you tell Windows to always skip driver signing, but Vista SP1 put an end to that -- and besides, I don't want Windows to ignore checking the signatures on all drivers, I just want it to allow me to run the occasional unsigned driver.
Look, I understand the whole thought process behind this totalitarian approach, which I understand runs something like this:. It all just seems a bit heavy-handed for my taste -- sort of like, oh, say, scaring a large room full of people into thinking that you've just released a bunch of malaria-infected mosquitoes into the air to make a point about poverty.
Anyway, this month I wanted to offer a workaround for those who run bit systems and really need to run an unsigned driver now and then. The workaround? Create your own driver signing certificate and sign the driver or application yourself! Here are the steps. First, we need some tools, and the SDK has 'em. Go to www. You might actually want to do this on a test machine or virtual machine, as the SDK's kind of big.
Don't use a regular old command prompt, as the "CMD Shell" shortcut adds items to your path -- without them, you'd get one of those " On your drive, create a folder to contain the certificate that you're going to create and then switch over to the folder by typing:. We're looking to end up with a code signing certificate in a particular format called an "Authenticode" format.
To accomplish that, we've got to do three steps: "makecert" will create a certificate, "cert2spc" will convert it to Authenticode format, and "pvk2pfx" will convert the private key in that certificate into Microsoft's "PFX" format. Armed with a PFX file and a fourth tool, "signtool," we can then sign any executable that we like.
The "makecert" command, which creates our private key and certificate file, will look like. To make this work, we specify a name for a PVK file which stores a private key of the certificate that we're creating , a CER file the certificate we're creating , and whatever descriptive label you like for your certificate. For example, on my system I typed. If you typed that right -- it's truly ugly, so don't be discouraged if you get it wrong the first time I'm a big believer in cut and paste , then you'll get a simple dialog box named "Create Private Key Password" asking you for a password and to confirm that password.
Certificates are built around the idea of a pair of encryption keys, the public and the private. PKI "public key infrastructure," a common acronym for "certificate-related stuff" password-protects private keys because if just anyone got your certificate and private key, then they could code-sign things in your name, so unless you want the next worm going out signed by you, you should normally pick a decent password and protect it for your private key.
In this case, however, you're creating a certificate whose only goal in life is to make your copy of bit Windows happy -- the certificate just claims that you own it, but can't prove it and so is of no value to anyone outside your organization -- so pick whatever password you like for this exercise.
Sunday, October 14, PM. Tuesday, October 16, AM. Hi Kane, Thank you for the suggestion. I had used an earlier version of VistaBootPro before, but it didn't work. Today, I downoload the latest version 3. Big mistake - the OS wouldn't bootup at all after using the programme to set disable digital driver enforcement. I have to use backup BCD file to restrore and recover.
Any body who has a working solution to this problem? Much appreciated if you could post it here. Thank you. Wednesday, October 17, PM. Hi Cukkas, I'm having the same dilemma over here but on Vista x64, there seems to be no solution. I'm glad I found this post though, hopefully we can find a solution. Regards, xslikx. Thursday, October 18, PM. I have used it since Beta 2 and not had the no-boot problem you describe Monday, October 22, AM. Hi Kane, My situation on Vista is the same Cukkas is experiencing more or less.
Moreover all driver support for this product is not available thru promise because this chipset is imbedded on your mainboard. This will need to be supported thru your mainboard manufacturer. Hi All, To answer Kane's question, the only setting in VistaBootPro that I used was to check the option to disable digital driver enforcement, but the PC would refuse to bootup again.
I am using the IDE setup using the same driver that you mentioned, and it works fine for the two drives that are connected to these connectors. I have not tried them under raid setup, so I can't tell whether that setup works. As you said, it would be nice to be able to get rid of digital driver enforcement during boot-up.
It also means I can remotely re-boot the PC as well. Hope someone can come up with a solution. Monday, October 22, PM. Hey Cukkas, That initially came out to me as a huge surprise that were both dealing with the same promise driver issue, but at the same time it doesn't surprise me that others are having problems with them as well.
Also, there is no plan at present to support Vista on any Socket A8 series motherboard, in either 32 bit or 64 bit versions, largely due to a lack of solid driver support. Regards, Asus Support Team Please do not reply to this message. If you need further assistance please call our technical support line at Monday-Friday from am-Midnight EST. Sunday, November 4, AM. Wednesday, November 14, PM. Hi All, I had a lightbub moment while I was taking a shower last weekend: what if I use the hibernate function which is standard log off option in a laptop and how will the Windows server repsond?
There is no hibernate switch in Window server log off, but you can try this string on a short cut on desktop: rundll It works for me. Let me know if it works for you too. Wednesday, December 19, PM. Thursday, December 27, PM. This isn't just a server issue 2. Why should brand name drivers cause such a problem? Monday, May 5, PM. Wednesday, May 21, AM. Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services.
Privacy policy. Driver signing associates a digital signature with a driver package. Windows device installation uses digital signatures to verify the integrity of driver packages and to verify the identity of the vendor software publisher who provides the driver packages. In addition, the kernel-mode code signing policy for bit versions of Windows Vista and later versions of Windows specifies that a kernel-mode driver must be signed for the driver to load. For details, see Driver Signing Policy.
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