Windows 7: Unsigned drivers questions on 64-bit Windows 7?

Hello everyone:

This is my first post on the Windows 7 forums.
I currently have an old P4 running 32-bit Windows 7 RC. I don’t think I can put 64-bit on that machine, but I am considering 64-bit on the retail version when it is released in October. I tested about thirty 32-bit shareware and freeware applications on 32-bit Windows 7 RC and they all work well.



My questions concern 32-bit drivers and unsigned 32-bit and 64-bit drivers on Windows 7 64-bit retail.

I have seen references to a BCedit command. I ran Bcdedit /set Bcdedit nointegritychecks ON on my Vista SP2 machine and it ran successfully. I have not tested what it will let me do as I now have no Vista driver issues.

Here are my questions:

Which of these is the correct command to disable the signature check on Windows 7 RC?

bcdedit /set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

bcedit –SET TESTSIGN NO

Is there any reason to use the correct command rather than using F8 during the boot process?

Does the correct command work for both unsigned 32-bit and unsigned 64-bit drivers on a 64-bit Windows 7 system?

Is the correct command useful on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 for driver signing issues generally?

I assume the command works for only 1 boot cycle. Given that, is there any reason to run a command to re-enable the driver signing check if one reboots again after the driver installation?

Is there any other solution other than third party software, which I would prefer to avoid as I don’t expect to run into a driver issue frequently?

What is a decent estimate of how many of my 32-bit applications that work well on 32-bit Vista SP2 will install and work well on 64-bit Windows 7 retail, assuming I use the correct command to disable the signature check?

Thanks for any responses.

Welcome to the forum.

Lots of good questions there, I'd encourage you to search for 'driver signing' using the search feature, there are quite a few good threads on the matter already.

All of your questions have been addressed in other threads. Bear in mind that there is a way to 'self-sign' drivers so that F8 doesn't need to be used every time you boot.

Captain:

I have used the search function and spent about 45 minutes reading the threads. I also read the stickies.

I found conflicting information regarding the correct command in Windows 7, thus my question about it. I can't test it myself as I don't have a 64-bit installation and won't until at least October.

I did not find any direct responses to my specific questions in the thread I found, but of course it is possible that searching doesn't necessarily find all threads.

Can you personally answer any of my questions?

I am aware of the self-signing solution, but as I recall from the threads it is not as simple as a simple command (if there is such a thing) and may not always be an option?

It may be that I will have no driver issues at all on 64-bit, but I don't want to take the plunge and then have to revert to 32-bit.

welcome to the forums...
only the a few of the latter P4's offers 64 bit support (but im pretty sure you know that...)



this is really not that useful on 32 bit systems since they already allow you unsigned drivers...

only 64 enforce this...

it should work indefinitely if it works (there are some that say yes and some that no)

i cannot estimate the number the systems that would need as there many pieces of hardware (especially very cheap third party hardware, or uncommon hardware) that would have to be accounted for, which i a user would not be able to live without...


as CZ said you can try the test mode where you can sign your own drivers and use those with having to worry whether the unsigned drivers requirement is on or off, that requirement can be set by this command

Bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd /set {default} testsigning on