Want to install unsigned drivers? You need to disable driver signature enforcement in Windows 11 & 10 to do that. Here’s how to do it.
By default, both Windows 10 and Windows 11 require a valid signature to verify and install a driver. If a driver does not have a valid digital signature, Windows cannot verify its integrity and blocks you from installing it. It is a built-in security feature to protect you from installing malicious drivers. While this is a good thing, there may be situations where you want to install unsigned drivers. For example, maybe you are installing an old driver, modifying or developing a driver, etc. Whatever your specific use case is, you can easily disable driver signature enforcement in three ways. Once disabled, you can install any unsigned driver without warnings or blocking.
In this quick and easy guide, I will show you three methods to disable driver signature enforcement. Let’s get started.
Before You Start
- Administrator rights are required to disable driver signature enforcement.
- Please think twice and only disable this feature if it is absolutely required. Never disable it because someone told you, you saw a prompt in your system, or a tutorial recommended it.
- Create a system restore point before proceeding.
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement Using Advanced Startup Options
The advanced startup options allow you to disable driver signature enforcement temporarily. i.e, once you reboot the system next time, the driver signature enforcement will be automatically enabled. This is the recommended method for most users, as you don’t have to re-enable the feature manually.
- Press “Windows key + I” to open Settings.
- Go to the “Windows Update” > “Advanced options” page.
- Click the “Recovery” option.
- Click the “Restart now” button next to “Advanced startup“.
- Go to the “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” page in the advanced startup screen.
- Click the “See more recovery options” option.
- Click the “Start-up settings” option.
- Click the “Restart” button.
- Press “7” on your keyboard.
- Windows will automatically reboot in the driver signature enforcement feature disabled state.
- You can now install drivers that do not have a valid digital signature.
- Once done, restart your system normally, and driver signature enforcement is enabled automatically.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
First, we must open the Settings app. To do that, press the “Windows key + I” shortcut. Next, go to the “System” > “Recovery” page. Here, click the “Restart now” button next to the “Advanced Startup” option.
Note: On Windows 10, go to the “Update and Security” > “Recovery” page in the Settings app. Next, click on the “Restart now” button under the “Advanced Startup” section.
The above action reboots your system to the advanced startup screen. Here, select the “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced options” option. Next, click the “See more recovery options” link.
On this screen, click the “Start-up settings” option.
Click on the “Restart” button.
The above action shows a list of startup options with numbers before them. Find the “Disable driver signature enforcement” option and press the number associated with it. In my case, that is “7“.
As soon as you press the relevant number, Windows will automatically restart with driver enforcement disabled. Once restarted, you can install unsigned drivers.
After installing the unsigned driver, restart your system normally, and the driver signature enforcement will be automatically enabled.
Disable Drive Signature Enforcement Using Command Prompt
If you want to disable driver signature enforcement permanently (not recommended), you can use the Command Prompt to disable integrity checks. Here’s how.
- Open the Start menu by pressing the “Windows” key.
- Search for “Command Prompt” and select “Run as administrator“.
- Run the following command to disable driver signature verification.
bcdedit /set nointegritychecks on
- Close the Command Prompt window.
- Restart your computer.
With that, you’ve permanently disabled driver signature verification. From now on, you can install an unsigned driver just like any other signed driver.
To enable driver signature enforcement, run the following command in an admin Command Prompt.
bcdedit /set nointegritychecks off
Disable Driver Signature Enforcement by Enabling Test Signing Mode
As an alternative, you can enable test signing mode to disable driver signature enforcement. Here’s how
- Launch the Start menu by clicking the “Windows icon” on the taskbar.
- Search for “Command Prompt” and select the “Run as administrator” option.
- Run the following command in the command-line window.
bcdedit /set testsigning on
- After that, restart your system to apply the changes.
- Once the system has been restarted, you can install an unsigned driver without warnings.
To enable driver signature enforcement, turn off the test signing mode with the command below and restart your system.
bcdedit /set testsigning off
Wrapping Up — Disabling Driver Signature Enforcement in Windows
As you can see, you have three methods to quickly and easily disable the drive signature enforcement feature on Windows 11 and Windows 11. That being said, only disable this feature when you know what you are doing and not as a recommendation or prompt from software, an online tutorial, or other users.
If you wish to disable it, I recommend you follow the first method, as it is temporary and automatically enables this security feature on reboot. However, if you want this change to be permanent, you can follow one of the second or third methods. Keep in mind that you can always enable the drive signature enforcement if and when needed, no matter which method you follow.
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If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
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