4 ms·

Microsoft are saying it's because those accounts didn't undergo verification for the Windows Hardware Program https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/09/microsoft_

Microsoft are saying it's because those accounts didn't undergo verification for the Windows Hardware Program https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/09/microsoft_dev_account_deactivations/ https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/09/microsoft_dev_account...

walrus01 6mo ago
I understand it's because it's a device driver, but why should a pure software publisher which has no hardware product of any sort be required to go through a "hardware program" gatekeeper of what binaries a person can choose to install and run on their own computer?
- rstupek 6mo ago
  They started it because the drivers people used to use from hardware vendors would routinely blue screen windows, which made MS look like the reason windows would crash. Hardware vendors are notoriously inept at software.
  - VertanaNinjai 6mo ago
    Í think their point was that Wireguard has no physical hardware, so it’s strange as a software project they’d be forced to go through verification for a hardware program.
    - nine_k 6mo ago
      Because it's a kernel driver anyway?
      - anakaine 6mo ago
        Then the program should have been named the kernel level driver verification program.
        literalAardvark 6mo ago
        Mate this is Microsoft. We're lucky it's not called Azure Copilot Verification Program (New)
    - UqWBcuFx6NV4r 6mo ago
      Okay. So they can call it the “hardware and WireGuard” program for all I care. The reality is that MS requires this sort of approval / verification process for whatever WireGuard is doing. In true HN fashion everyone loves getting distracted by utter meaningless semantics.
      - anakaine 6mo ago
        Those meaningless semantics are part of how this got missed in the first place, and why it caused such an issue. Microsoft is a large company, and a poorly named program created requirements that were missed.
    - olyjohn 6mo ago
      It's a virtual network interface. So it's not really hardware, but the computer treats it like it is.
  - AnthonyMouse 6mo ago
    > They started it because the drivers people used to use from hardware vendors would routinely blue screen windows, which made MS look like the reason windows would crash. Hardware vendors are notoriously inept at software. But hardware vendors also want Windows licenses to include with their hardware, so it's pretty easy to say "do the hardware program certification if you want the discount" and that's exactly what they did in the early days, and it worked fine. Even the peripherals (which are increasingly rare now anyway) still want to be able to put the Windows logo on their product. At which point we still have the same question: Why are they harassing the WireGuard developers, who have their own reputation for not being inept at software and therefore shouldn't need a Microsoft certification program to assure their users that their code is trustworthy to install?
    - unmole 6mo ago
      > Why are they harassing the WireGuard developers, who have their own reputation for not being inept at software I would guess this is just large organizations Seeing Like a State whereby they "seek to force administrative legibility on their subjects by homogenizing them". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State
      - AnthonyMouse 6mo ago
        At which point we're back to, why is Microsoft acting like a government and treating their users like property of the crown instead of autonomous adult human beings who should be free to choose what software they want on their own PC?
        Barbing 6mo ago
        all five letters of that answer are in your username :)
        defrost 6mo ago
        Are you thinking of a single five letter word, two words of three and two letters, or an entire sentence that only uses 5 distinct letters? Consider being less cryptic, for the sake of those with English as a fourth language.
- rlpb 6mo ago
  It sounds more like a "driver program" gatekeeper so you are arguing about semantics. I'm not claiming that there is no problem, just that an argument based on the distinction between "hardware" and "driver" is void.
- technion 6mo ago
  Outside of these unfortunuate situations, a lot of people are quite happy for developers of eg kernel anti cheat to have a difficult time. We do need to recognise, a long history of "windows always bluescreens" was somewhat reigned in by this policy with a lot of crashes coming down to third party drivers.
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
j45 6mo ago
If a provider wants to be in the identity business, I don't understand why it has to be tied to a piece of hardware. Security and attribution is great, but the default assumption of everyone will sign up and do what we want doesn't work.
LtdJorge 6mo ago
> No emails, no warnings, no humans – just bots, catch-22s, and a 60-day appeals queue Hmmm

walrus01 6mo ago

I understand it's because it's a device driver, but why should a pure software publisher which has no hardware product of any sort be required to go through a "hardware program" gatekeeper of what binaries a person can choose to install and run on their own computer?

rstupek 6mo ago
They started it because the drivers people used to use from hardware vendors would routinely blue screen windows, which made MS look like the reason windows would crash. Hardware vendors are notoriously inept at software.
- VertanaNinjai 6mo ago
  Í think their point was that Wireguard has no physical hardware, so it’s strange as a software project they’d be forced to go through verification for a hardware program.
  - nine_k 6mo ago
    Because it's a kernel driver anyway?
    - anakaine 6mo ago
      Then the program should have been named the kernel level driver verification program.
      - literalAardvark 6mo ago
        Mate this is Microsoft. We're lucky it's not called Azure Copilot Verification Program (New)
  - UqWBcuFx6NV4r 6mo ago
    Okay. So they can call it the “hardware and WireGuard” program for all I care. The reality is that MS requires this sort of approval / verification process for whatever WireGuard is doing. In true HN fashion everyone loves getting distracted by utter meaningless semantics.
    - anakaine 6mo ago
      Those meaningless semantics are part of how this got missed in the first place, and why it caused such an issue. Microsoft is a large company, and a poorly named program created requirements that were missed.
  - olyjohn 6mo ago
    It's a virtual network interface. So it's not really hardware, but the computer treats it like it is.
- AnthonyMouse 6mo ago
  > They started it because the drivers people used to use from hardware vendors would routinely blue screen windows, which made MS look like the reason windows would crash. Hardware vendors are notoriously inept at software. But hardware vendors also want Windows licenses to include with their hardware, so it's pretty easy to say "do the hardware program certification if you want the discount" and that's exactly what they did in the early days, and it worked fine. Even the peripherals (which are increasingly rare now anyway) still want to be able to put the Windows logo on their product. At which point we still have the same question: Why are they harassing the WireGuard developers, who have their own reputation for not being inept at software and therefore shouldn't need a Microsoft certification program to assure their users that their code is trustworthy to install?
  - unmole 6mo ago
    > Why are they harassing the WireGuard developers, who have their own reputation for not being inept at software I would guess this is just large organizations Seeing Like a State whereby they "seek to force administrative legibility on their subjects by homogenizing them". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_Like_a_State
    - AnthonyMouse 6mo ago
      At which point we're back to, why is Microsoft acting like a government and treating their users like property of the crown instead of autonomous adult human beings who should be free to choose what software they want on their own PC?
      - Barbing 6mo ago
        all five letters of that answer are in your username :)
        defrost 6mo ago
        Are you thinking of a single five letter word, two words of three and two letters, or an entire sentence that only uses 5 distinct letters? Consider being less cryptic, for the sake of those with English as a fourth language.
rlpb 6mo ago
It sounds more like a "driver program" gatekeeper so you are arguing about semantics. I'm not claiming that there is no problem, just that an argument based on the distinction between "hardware" and "driver" is void.
technion 6mo ago
Outside of these unfortunuate situations, a lot of people are quite happy for developers of eg kernel anti cheat to have a difficult time. We do need to recognise, a long history of "windows always bluescreens" was somewhat reigned in by this policy with a lot of crashes coming down to third party drivers.
deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]

j45 6mo ago

If a provider wants to be in the identity business, I don't understand why it has to be tied to a piece of hardware. Security and attribution is great, but the default assumption of everyone will sign up and do what we want doesn't work.

LtdJorge 6mo ago

> No emails, no warnings, no humans – just bots, catch-22s, and a 60-day appeals queue Hmmm