While attempting to install a new driver for my graphics card, an AMD RX 480, Windows complained that the driver was unsigned, and it wouldn’t let me install it.  This is due to driver signature enforcement.

Drivers along with other software packages are often digitally “signed” in order to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code hasn’t been altered or corrupted since it was signed.

I had a look online and found that AMD stated that they occasionally push patches without getting around to signing them. Since my graphics card wasn’t working properly, I decided to go ahead and install the unsigned driver.

This is how I temporarily disabled driver signature enforcement to get the new drivers installed:

  • Press Windows Key + X to open Power User Menu.
  • Select Command Prompt (Admin) or Windows Powershell (Admin) from the menu.
  • Once the Command Prompt opens enter the following: bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on and press Enter.
  • The prompt should display The operation completed successfully.
  • To re-enable driver signature enforcement when you are finished installing your unsigned driver, enter: bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks off
    • If you skip this step, driver signature enforcement will remain permanently disabled.

There are other tutorials out there which recommend booting into safe mode by clicking restart while holding shift, but I feel like this method I described above is much more straightforward.

I hope that helped. Send us a message or leave a comment if you’ve any questions, or you just want to say hi. You can follow on Twitter, @focalise_ie