Disabling Driver Signature on Windows 8

This Tutorial is Retired!

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Contributors: SquareOne
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Overview

Caution: Disabling your operating system's device signature verification can put your operating system at risk. You should only install drivers that you trust!

When working with electronics, it is not rare to encounter software drivers. Drivers are chunks of code that allow one device to "talk" to another. For instance, the mouse and keyboard you are using right now each have a driver that tells the computer how to interact with the device. Similarly, when you plug other devices into your computer, you may need to install a driver to get that device to function properly.

In past versions of the Windows operating system, installing drivers was a pretty straightforward task. However, in Windows 8, installing drivers, particularly unsigned drivers, can be a bit of a hassle. This is especially true when working with Arduino. This tutorial will help guide you through the process of disabling signed driver enforcement on Windows 8.

Which Boards Require This Procedure?

If you are using Windows 8 in conjunction with any of the boards depicted in the flame to the right, or listed below, you will likely need to follow the steps in this procedure.

Boards needing this procedure for Windows 8 Installation
Arduino Uno
Arduino Mega 2560
Arduino Due
Arduino Leonardo
Arduino Esplora
Arduino Mega ADX
Arduino Micro
Arduino Mini
Pocket AVR Programmer
Tiny AVR Programmer
Makey Makey
ATMEGA32U4 Breakout
Fio v3 - ATmega32U4
LilyPad Arduino USB - ATmega32U4 Board
Pro Micro - 3.3V/8MHz
Pro Micro - 5V/16MHz
IOIO-OTG
EiBot
USB 32-Bit Whacker - PIC32MX795 Development Board
USB Bit Whacker - 18F2553 Development Board


SFE Products requiring driver disabling on Windows 8 Makey Makey Fio Leonardo Bit Whacker EiBotBoard Due ATMEGA32U4 LilyPad Mega Tiny Bit Whacker 2 Pocket IOIO Pro Micro Mini Uno

Suggested Reading

If you need a little more information on drivers, you can visit our FTDI Driver Installation Guide. This tutorial will also help you get going on your Arduino if it is not one of the variations listed above.

Some other Arduino related tutorials: