If you are trying to install a driver from a small developer or you want to use an old driver, you may see this alert:

Windows Encountered a Problem Installing the Driver Software For Your Device

Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it

The Third-Party INF Does Not Contain Digital Signature Information

In my case I was trying to install a 5 year old Contex Scanner ($20K!) into a Windows 10 PC when I saw this error.  In previous operating systems you would receive the same error but have a button (in red I believe) that let you click on INSTALL ANYWAY.  Under Windows 10, you have two choices to get Windows to not check for Digital Signatures:

SCRIPT TO DISABLE DIGITAL SIGNATURE CHECKING:

  1. Launch an elevated CMD prompt (run as Admin)
  2. Type in:
    bcdedit /set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
    and press the ENTER key
  3. Type in:
    bcdedit /set testsigning on
    and press the ENTER key – See THIS article for more details.
  4. Try the install again

GUI TO DISABLE DIGITAL SIGNATURE CHECKING:

  1. Click START and type RECOVERY OPTIONS (not Recovery Control Panel)
  2. Click ADVANCED STARTUP and let it reboot
  3. After boot, click on ADVANCED OPTIONS > STARTUP SETTINGS
  4. Then select DISABLE DRIVER SIGNATURE ENFORCEMENT from the list
  5. The machine will boot and then you can install your unsigned drivers and have a happy day

Note that the specific text will be slightly different depending on your version of Windows 10 but the process remains the same.  If you have other questions, you might find THIS Microsoft post useful.

windows-10-recovery-advanced-startup-for-f8-boot-menu

windows-10-recovery-advanced-startup-for-f8-boot-menu-startup-settingswindows-10-recovery-advanced-startup-for-f8-boot-menu-disable-driver-signature-enforcement


11 Comments

Nossy · November 13, 2023 at 12:50 pm

The first option doesn’t work for win 10/11,
The second one does but it’s very annoying doing that every time. Is there a way to make it permanent like the previous editions of Windows?

William · August 17, 2022 at 1:44 pm

There’s a spelling mistake above, two Ds in DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

Also, the command to use is:
bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on

    Ian Matthews · January 30, 2023 at 6:15 pm

    Hi William;

    Thanks for the heads up on the spelling mistake, but the TESTSIGNING ON is correct. We just verified and added a link.

sheer · January 14, 2022 at 4:42 am

Thanks had to use the GUI but worked a treat, was able to install new mouse driver from the troublesome one with windows 10, made my mouse so much better to use. Found the driver with a newer version that suited my OS even though Microsoft was telling me the one I had was fine. cheers again

Daniel · December 19, 2020 at 2:55 pm

Thanks but it failed due to this “The value is protected by Secure Boot policy and cannot be modified or deleted”

    Ian Matthews · December 19, 2020 at 5:01 pm

    Hi Daniel; That sounds like it is being blocked by Group Policy on a corporate network. Is this your personal or corporate machine?

      Daniel · December 19, 2020 at 5:57 pm

      HI Ian,
      Thanks for replying, it’s personal laptop, but it’s okay now I followed the second procedure and it worked

Chase Ryan · May 28, 2020 at 10:23 pm

This worked SO freaking good OMG thank you SO much you saved me alot of trouble that I would have never been able to fix otherwise.

Chaii · April 6, 2020 at 11:18 am

Thanks for your help. It works!!

Craig Prall · September 6, 2018 at 5:33 am

If you have BitLocker encryption on the boot drive, you will need to have the BitLocker recovery key handy. The script solution didn’t work at all for me (Windows 10 Pro build 1803). The GUI version worked with some slight differences. After the Advanced Options –> Startup Settings path is taken, the system will reboot and ask for the BitLocker recovery key. After that is entered, the list of options appears and disable driver signing can be selected. Also, “Disable” is a bit concerning, but what really happens is that Windows returns to its former behavior of prompting for an OK if the driver is not signed. So unsigned drivers won’t be installed stealthily.

Synapse on PC | Chris Perry · September 23, 2017 at 5:50 pm

[…] It turns out that the problem was the fact that I was using windows 10. Windows 10 does not allow drivers to be installed without digital signatures, unlike older versions of windows. I was not prepared to roll my whole PC back to an earlier version so instead, I found a way to bypass this, for your interest, this is how it is done as per this site. […]

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