Microsoft KB Archive/259283

= How to Use the File Signature Verification Tool to Find Third-Party Drivers =

PSS ID Number: 259283

Article Last Modified on 11/20/2003

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

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This article was previously published under Q259283





SUMMARY
This article describes how to use the Windows Signature Verification tool (Sigverif.exe). You can use this tool to identify unsigned drivers on a Windows-based computer. This information can be helpful when you are troubleshooting system instability in Windows (for example, when the computer stops responding, when you receive STOP error messages, when you are unable to put the computer into Standby or Hibernate, and so on).



MORE INFORMATION
The following text was taken from following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/desinit/digitsign.htm

Microsoft is promoting driver signing for designated device classes as a mechanism to advance the quality of drivers, to provide a better user experience, and to reduce support costs for vendors and total cost of ownership for customers. Microsoft began digitally signing drivers for the Microsoft Windows 98 operating system that passed the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) tests in 1998, and has been signing drivers for Windows 2000 since the RC3 release.

Although an unsigned system driver may work in Windows, unsigned system drivers can cause problems in Windows because they are not tested by the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL).

NOTE: It is possible to scan the entire Windows system drive for unsigned drivers, which can help you troubleshoot issues such as mismatched dynamic link library (DLL) files, older driver support files, and other issues.

To find unsigned system drivers on a Windows-based computer, use the following steps.

NOTE: The following steps concentrate on the Drivers folder because most kernel mode system drivers are loaded from this folder.
 * 1) Click Start, click Run, type sigverif.exe, and then click OK.
 * 2) Click Advanced.
 * 3) Click Look for other files that are not digitally signed.
 * 4) In the Look in this folder box, type  :\winnt\system32\drivers (where   is the drive letter where Windows is installed).
 * 5) On the Logging tab, make sure the Save the file signature verification results to a log file check box is selected, and then click OK.
 * 6) Click Start.
 * 7) When the File Signature Verification tool is finished scanning the computer, a list of unsigned drivers on the computer is displayed.
 * 8) Click Close.

The File Signature Verification tool supports the following command-line option to run the default scan without user interaction:

sigverif.exe /defscan

When you use this command, a Sigverif.txt log file is created and saved in the Winnt folder. All Windows files on the Windows CD-ROM are signed by Microsoft Windows Publisher, as shown in the following example:   File       Modified     Version   Status   Catalog   Signed By               ---   --   ---   - Acpi.sys  07/12/1999   2:5.0     Signed   Nt5.cat   Microsoft Windows 2000 Publisher Third-party drivers that are unsigned are displayed as &quot;Not signed.&quot; You can use this list of unsigned drivers as a starting point for troubleshooting issues in Windows. For example, to be accepted by the WHQL, a driver must support power management. Many third-party unsigned drivers written for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 do not contain power management support, so you may experience power management problems if you install such a driver on Windows. After you find the unsigned drivers, you can disable the drivers one by one using any of the following methods:
 * Uninstall the software that installed the third-party driver using the Add/Remove Programs tool.
 * Disable the device in Device Manager (you may have to click View, click Show hidden devices, and then disable the device under Non-Plug and Play Drivers).
 * Rename the driver in the Winnt\System32\Drivers folder.

If disabling a driver resolves the problem, contact the manufacturer of the third-party system driver for a updated version that is designed to run with Windows.

For more information about driver signing, refer to the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/desinit/digitsign.htm

Additional query words: 3rd hang hangs

Keywords: kb3rdparty kbenv kbhowto KB259283

Technology: kbwin2000AdvServ kbwin2000AdvServSearch kbwin2000Pro kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Search kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbWinAdvServSearch

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