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One barrier to developing drivers for Windows is the driver signing policy https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff548231(v=vs.85).aspx http
by ximeng 12y ago
One barrier to developing drivers for Windows is the driver signing policy https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff548231(v=vs.85).aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff... which requires you to pay for a software publisher certificate.
- geon 12y agoIs it any different than the Apple iOS developer license?
- Sanddancer 12y agoYes. The certificates Microsoft requires use the standard CA system, and are pretty much bog-standard code signing certificates, so the key you need can also be used to sign other windows apps you make, java apps, mozilla add-ons, etc.
- frozenport 12y agoI can live with this. Buggy software drivers wreak havoc and security vulnerabilities. I routinely use expensive industrial equipment without signed drivers, and the problem seems to be a warning from the installer.
- stinos 12y agoThis seems to be the case indeed. The couple of times Windows BSOD'd on me was always because of faulty drivers and more often than not the unsigned ones.
- dfox 12y agoIIRC the only BSOD I got on XP on my thinkpad since 2006 was caused by not even driver bug, but by driver that seems to have intentionally caused BSOD.
- wslh 12y agoWhat's the barrier for that? You can develop drivers without signing the drivers and obtain them in the deployment phase.
- tonyedgecombe 12y agoI used my Authenticode cert for this, it wasn't very expensive.
- ximeng 12y agoHow much out of interest? I see prices of 180 USD a year on Google search. It's not expensive but for say an open source project which might not be bringing in income it's an annoying cost.
- tonyedgecombe 12y agohttp://codesigning.ksoftware.net/ http://codesigning.ksoftware.net/ from $73 to $95 per year
- rplnt 12y agoYou also have to pay for each signature ($100 I think, not really sure). And the certification process is anything but easy (though it depends on the type of the driver).
- magamiako 12y agoDriver signing and WHQL are two completely different things and are NOT related. Your SIGNED driver does NOT need to be WHQL certified.
- tonyedgecombe 12y agoI didn't, the signing was trivial, this is for a printer driver.
- yuhong 12y agoWin10 even changed the requirements actually: https://www.osr.com/blog/2015/03/18/microsoft-signatures-required-km-drivers-windows-10/ https://www.osr.com/blog/2015/03/18/microsoft-signatures-req... Personally, I think that signing all drivers off a single root makes sense, but I am concerned about the EV requirement. EricLaw mentioned before that they don't sell them to individuals, for example.