How To Install An Driver in Windows 8/8.1

I have a very old Knoica Minolta laser printer at home. And when I tried to install it on my newly installed Windows 8 machine, I was told that the driver can’t be installed because the INF file is not digitally signed. It doesn’t even give me the choice to go ahead anyway. So how can I bypass this restriction to have my un-signed driver installed?

 Here is what I figured and did to get around it.

First, press win + I to launch the charm bar, and click Change PC Settings at the bottom.

Then, go to General, and scroll to the bottom of the page, click Restart Now button underAdvanced Startup section. Remember to save all your work first before clicking it.

Note that on Windows 8.1, the Advanced Startup option has moved to Update and recoverysection under Recovery.

The computer reboots to a startup menu, in which click Troubleshoot.

And click Advanced Options at next screen.

Choose Startup Settings next,

And click Restart button.

The computer reboots and prompts another menu to choose. One of the items is to Disable driver signature enforcement. Press number 7 or F7 to continue booting to Windows 8 with digital sign enforcement disabled.

And then I was able to get the Windows Security warning window offering me to install this driver anyway.

It was successful! Restart computer once again to re-enable the digital sign enforcement.

I would suggest changing the UAC settings first to see if the Install Anyway window prompts out. The solution showing off in this post should be the last resort to try out. And make sure the driver you are about to install is safe, though not digitally signed.