Avoiding "driver not signed" warning

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lucvdv
  • Start date Start date
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Lucvdv

Is there a way to avoid the "unsigned driver" warning when upgrading a
homegrown driver in XPe? Maybe a special certificate that can be used
to sign a driver for XPe only?

Or can I create my own certificate, use it to sign my driver, and add
it to the list of trusted authorities on the XPe target?

I'm not really up to level with certificate and signing stuff, but I
have a w2k domain controller at hand, and I know I can use it to
create local certificates: can one of those be installed as trusted on
an XPe target to get around the problem? The target is networkless.



The problem behind the questions:

When my driver is installed for the first time through the Add
Hardware wizard, it goes straight through without saying anything
about driver signing, but when I try to upgrade it in any way later,
the warning/confirmation dialog pops up.

This is a problem because the target doesn't have any user input
device to close the dialog.

In the final version, the target will be upgradable by means of an
update application that is started automatically when a flash disk
(USB pen drive) with the proper files is connected.

As it is now it uses a SetupInstallFromInfSection API call for the
driver. The update app can be rewritten to use another mechanism if
necessary, but I wouldn't like to have to reinvent the setup API.


The probability that it will ever have to be upgraded is high because
the driver handles communication with custom hardware, part of that is
application-dependent, and my coworker who's writing the firmware for
it and who put the communication specs together has a high affinity
for pulling the ground out from under other people's feet (he can,
because he's the department chief and the lead developer ;-)
 
Is there a way to avoid the "unsigned driver" warning when upgrading a
homegrown driver in XPe?
Click to expand...

It's a lot easier than I expected.

This simply works:

1) Copy the INF file into \Windows\INF
2) Install or upgrade the driver from the same INF file (the original,
not the copy).

No messages about driver signing, WHQL or anything.



How I found it: by accident :)

I removed all traces of my driver from the target, and reinstalled it
through 'add new hardware'. This time the warning popped up here too,
but I was certain it hadn't the first time, so I started thinking
about what had changed.

The driver was first installed through FBA in the original target, and
that caused the INF file to be copied to the INF directory without
being renamed it to 'oemXXX'; when I "removed all traces" I had
deleted that copy too.
 
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