Frequently Asked Questions

Vista 64 bit and Windows 7

Error: Vista (Windows 7) 64 bit driver not signed

This problem has surfaced frequently as of late and will come up more and more as older versions of Windos operating systems perish along with their older hardware. In a nutshell, it stems from Microsoft's decision to insist that all 64 bit versions of Windows from Vista through Windows 7 must run with signed drivers. There is a workaround that must be applied at bootup time, whereby you hold the F8 key while booting to get to a menu which provides you a choice to run without driver checking. (the safe mode boot menu). One of the options in the Safe Mode boot menu is to allow unsigned drivers. This will permit offending drivers to be installed, loaded and run. There is no way to make this permanent for all following bootups . Every time you want to use a program (VMWare Server)that needs an unsigned driver you have to reboot, press F8, and enable this option.

This was discussed extensively in the Softrock40 reflector's message 38681. There was some mention of a program which could be used to make the "run with unsigned drivers" option persist from one bootup to the next, but, in the end, you are still forced to keep yoour "shields" (against rogue drivers) down.