Getting the Windows Vista/7 64-bit to play with unsigned drivers

When Microsoft introduced Windows Vista 64-bit and later Windows 7 64-bit they implemented a security feature that will only allow signed drivers to work with the operating system. This is a way to ensure that only the proper driver can be installed with the hardware device to ensure stability and security but for regular consumers this can be a big hassle. A 64-bit operating system is needed to address more than 4GB of RAM (32-bit operating systems can only address a maximum of 4GB) so if you have less than 4GB RAM I would stick with 32-bit as the hassles of 64-bit isn’t worth it.

In order to get unsigned drivers to work use Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider. I managed to get it working with the bmobile’s 1st Generation 3.5G HSDPA Modem as show below

bmobile’s 1st Generation 3.5G HSDPA modem

Just follow the following steps:

1. Disable User Access Control (UAC) (Vista | Windows 7)
2. Run DSEO and click the “Enable Test Mode” button
3. Click the “Sign a File” button and specify the location of the driver / sys file (location of the file can be found in “Device Manager”, device’s “Properties”, “Driver” tab, click “Driver details”)
4. Reboot the computer and things should work

Now I wouldn’t recommend disabling UAC as it is a form of security that would prevent possible malware but if you need to use the hardware and don’t want to spend money to get compatible hardware or don’t want to downgrade to a 32-bit operating system of Windows then I guess it’s one of the choices you have to make.