Re: Silent Driver Installation on windows XP

Sam Musleh <Sam Musleh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I thought WHQL was for Windows Logo + signing. Is Windows Logo requirements
testing critical for installing drivers silently without admin privileges?
Or can we register with VeriSign and begin signing our own code? Seems to me
that the security requirement is that the code originator/owner be
identified, not that the design meet MS standards and have their cert. Is
this true? If not, please advise how the process works.

Signatures serve several purposes. To get a driver installed silently, it
must have a WHQL certificate, and that means you have to go through WHQL
testing. You can use a test certificate for testing, but you have to
identify the test cert as a "trusted" certificate. Thus, when you
distribute it, it won't be silent.

With the 64-bit systems, there is another twist: the driver binary must be
signed by you, with your Verisign code-signing certificate. Without that,
Windows simply will not load the driver, even if you manage to get it
installed. Again, you can create your own certificate for testing, but you
have to boot with the /testsign switch, which puts "TEST" on all 4 corners
of the screen. Customers won't do that.

That's two separate things. A binary signed with your code-signing
certificate will load, but will still get the "unsigned driver!" warning on
installation. To get rid of that, you need a WHQL signature.

Also, Mark, what do you mean that the "test signed drivers" cannot be
redistributed. Do I need to have another coffee to understand this? Isn't
the point to be able to distribute get your drivers signed in order to
distribute them?

Part of it is verification, part of it is rudimentary testing.
--
Tim Roberts, timr@xxxxxxxxx
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.
.

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