"unsigned" driver (Windows 7 AMD64)

[march42]

win7 64bit complains about unsigned driver, even though catalog file is present.

Maybe the INF was edited after signing the CAT ?
Edit: just recognized, its the mchpcdc.cat and customized mchpcdc.inf from the MLA, actually not a really signed driver package. Maybe the CAT should simply be removed.

[tonynaggs]

Thanks for reporting this.

I will look at the Windows driver installation and updating the instructions over the weekend.

[firefart]

If the driver is unsigned, it will be hard to install it under windows 8 (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-can-i-install-hardware-with-unsigned-drivers-in-windows-8/)

Is there a way we can get a signed driver?

[tonynaggs]

I will investigate how to support Windows 8. The Alpha version of RFIDler just presented a virtual COM port over USB. I don't think Adam has changed this in the Beta, and so with some tweaking of the USB descriptors Windows 8 should not need a driver.
I may need someone with Windows 8 & an RFIDler to test any fix I make.

[march42]

I just commited a self signed driver package and instructions (branch AVT_signed_driver).
These procedure works for me on Winows 7, 8, 8.1, and Server 2008R2, 2012R2
https://github.com/march42/RFIDler/tree/AVT_signed_driver

Getting a real software publisher certificate (for Windows HCL) is way too expensive for a small number of devices, so i have choosen this way for our devices.

EDIT: with changing USB descriptor VID to 04D8 and PID to 000A it is possible to use the original signed driver from Microchip MLA (mla\v2013-06-15\USB\Device - CDC - Basic Demo\inf\mchpcdc.inf/cat) - maybe this was what Adam used in the Alpha.

[thierryzoller]

Thank you, I proceeded to Import as per instructions - error remains.

[tonynaggs]

I think it is quite a common requirement for a USB virtual COM port device to want the default MS Windows (7, 8) usbser driver.

However I cannot find instructions to do this. Though there plenty on how to configure the USB descriptors to request some other builtin Windows 8 drivers eg
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/hardware/hh450799.aspx

I will dig further, but if anyone finds the answer before I do please let me know. :-)

[thierryzoller]

With reference to "I may need someone with Windows 8 & an RFIDler to test any fix I make." - I am on standby for Windows8 Test

[march42]

I just rechecked the probloem with my provided self signed driver and found the INF changed after getting it from GitHub - maybe because of converting line ending or something like that. I uploaded a ZIP with all the files inside, to correct this.
@marcomomsen you can retry with the files from the ZIP these are working on my Win8 and Win8.1 systems without problem.

@tonynaggs i have multiple devices running with usbser driver, maybe i can help you with this...

1. Windows uses USB Vendor and Product ID reported by the devices in USB device descriptor to choose driver from INF - usb_descriptors.c line 177/178 VID=1D50/PID=6098
2. Windows needs an INF with given VID/PID combination to know which driver installation must be used - rfidlercdc.inf line 33/36 telling section DriverInstall to be used for device "USB\VID_1D50&PID_6098"
3. Section DriverInstall.NT/NTamd64 refers to mdmcpq.inf provided by Windows - sections FakeModemCopyFileSection and LowerFilter_Service_Inst are declared there (for a small example see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837637/en-us)

Simple way would be changing usb_descriptors.c to identify as Microchip CDC Demo Vendor ID 0x04D8, Product ID 0x000A, then the WHQL signed mchpcdc.inf can be used to install. But, this is not allowed for production use. Somewhere in the MLA help files, i cannot rember where, was a WHQL recertification of MCHPCDC.INF through Microchip mentioned. I will check the help files again and see if i can find it in the next days.
PS: There is a post in the forum (http://rfidler.org/index.php?p=/discussion/9/windows-driver-weirdness#latest) about the signed driver issue.

[thierryzoller]

@march42 : Tested and works