Disable Driver Signature Enforcement [Windows Guide]

Find out how you can disable the driver signature enforcement safely

by Milan Stanojevic
Milan Stanojevic
Milan Stanojevic
Windows & Software Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He's a PC enthusiast and he... read more
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  • If you want to install unsigned drivers on your PC, you'll have to disable the signature enforcement.
  • There's a signing code that you'll have to modify to do just that.
  • Keep in mind that you can disable the signature enforcement temporarily or permanently. 
How to disable driver signature enforcement
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In order to achieve maximum security, Windows 10 and 11 require digitally signed drivers.

This is usually a good feature if you’re concerned about your safety, but sometimes you need to install drivers that aren’t digitally signed, and today we’re going to show you how to do that.

As a quick reminder, 64-bit versions of Windows require that you install digitally signed drivers.

Digitally signed drivers come with an electronic fingerprint that guarantees that the driver was created by the hardware manufacturer and that it hasn’t been modified since it was created.

Thanks to driver signature enforcement you’ll be sure that your drivers are authentic and not altered by a malicious third party.

This feature is great if you want to protect your PC, but some manufacturers don’t make digitally signed drivers and this can lead to all sorts of problems.

If your drivers aren’t digitally signed you won’t be able to install them at all which means that you won’t be able to use the hardware that is associated with them.

This is a big problem, but fortunately, you can disable driver signature enforcement with ease.

This issue will be fixed, but from now on, keep your drivers updated with the best software on the market.

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What happens if I disable driver signature enforcement?

If you disable the driver signature enforcement, you’ll be able to install unsigned drivers. There are no issues with doing that, so you may expect the usual behavior from your PC. Keep in mind that after the first restart, the driver signature will be enabled again.

If you get Would you like to install this device software message on your PC, your first instinct would be to disable driver signature enforcement.

Issues such as Windows cannot verify digital signature – Code 52 will require you to disable signature enforcement, and this is safe to do, as long as you download drivers from official and trusted sources.

So if you encounter The driver has been blocked from loading the message, disabling the signature enforcement might be helpful.

How do I disable enforcement signature?

In this article
  1. Change the Startup settings
  2. Disable driver signing
  3. Put Windows in test mode
  4. Disable driver signature enforcement permanently

1. Change the Startup settings

This is the simplest way to disable driver signature enforcement on Windows 10 but bear in mind that this method will only disable driver signature temporarily.

After you restart your computer driver signature enforcement will automatically turn itself on.

To disable driver signature enforcement do the following:

1. Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click the Restart button.

2. Choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings and click the Restart button.

3. When your computer restarts you’ll see a list of options. Press F7 on your keyboard to select Disable driver signature enforcement.

4. Your computer will now restart and you’ll be able to install unsigned drivers.

Bear in mind that this method only temporarily disables driver signature enforcement, so be sure to install all the unsigned drivers as soon as you can.

You can automatically install the drivers you need by using dedicated software that installs all of your out-of-date and missing drivers for you.

⇒ Get Outbyte DriverUpdater

2. Disable driver signing code

Another solution is to use the Local Group Policy Editor. Keep in mind that you have to be careful while messing with the Policy Editor, and don’t modify anything else.

To disable the driver signing code, follow the steps:

  1. On your PC open Local Group Policy Editor: press the Win+R hotkeys and in the Run box enter gpedit.msc.
  2. In Local Group Policy Editor, from the left panel, click on User Configuration.
  3. Then, from the main window double-click on Administrative Templates.
  4. From the menu that will open double-click on System and then go to Driver Installation.
  5. Select the Code signing for device drivers entry.
  6. Select Enabled and from the dropdown located beneath, change to Ignore.
  7. Click Ok and apply your changes.
  8. Restart your Windows 10 system in the end.

3. Put Windows in test mode

If you don’t want to disable driver signing permanently, you can choose to enter the Windows 10 test mode.

In test mode, you can install any drivers you want without experiencing any problems. Don’t forget to go to normal Windows 10 mode after you solve your problem:

  1. Open an elevated command prompt window on your PC: right-click on the Windows Start icon and select Command prompt (Admin).
  2. In cmd type:bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING OFF
  3. Close the cmd window and restart your computer.
  4. Install your drivers.
  5. Revert back to normal mode: open elevated cmd, enter this command and restart your Windows 10 system: 
    bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING ON

4. Disable driver signature enforcement Windows 10 permanently

The previous solution will only disable driver signature enforcement temporarily. But if you want to disable it permanently, follow these steps:

  1. Press Windows Key + X to open Power User Menu. Select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
    driver-signature-enforcement-admin
  2. Once the Command Prompt opens, enter this command and press Enter: bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on
  3. driver-signature-enforcement-off
  4. Optional: To enable driver signature enforcement back again, open the Command Prompt as administrator and enter:bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks offdriver-signature-enforcement-on

Alternatively, you can disable driver signature enforcement by using these steps:

  1. Start Command Prompt as administrator.
  2. When Command Prompt starts, enter the following lines:
    • bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
      driver-signature-enforcement-disable-1
    • bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON
      driver-signature-enforcement-disable-2
  3. Close Command Prompt and restart your PC.
  4. Optional: To enable driver signature enforcement open Command Prompt as administrator and enter the following:
    • bcdedit -set loadoptions ENABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
       driver-signature-enforcement-enable-1
    • bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF
      driver-signature-enforcement-enable-2

Bear in mind that using this solution will disable driver signature enforcement permanently, thus making your computer somewhat vulnerable.

Driver signature enforcement is a useful feature that provides extra protection, but sometimes extra protection can cause problems when installing certain drivers.

We hope that you now understand how driver signature enforcement works and how to disable it in Windows 10.

Do you know of any other workarounds? Feel free to share them in the comments section below.

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