Windows device installation uses digital signatures to verify the integrity of driver packages and to verify the identity of the publishers of the driver packages. For information about how driver signing affects driver installation, see Driver Signatures and PnP Device Installation (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista) and Driver Signatures and PnP Device Installation (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Window 2000). In addition, the kernel-mode code signing policy for 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista specifies that a kernel-mode driver must be signed in order for the driver to load.

For an overview of the driver signing process, see Managing the Signing Process.

For information about signing drivers for public release, see Signing Drivers For Public Release (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista) and Signing Drivers for Public Release (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000).

For information about signing drivers for development and test, see Signing Drivers During Development and Test (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista) and Signing Drivers During Development and Test (Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000).

For information about the signing tools that are provided in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK), see Driver Signing Tools and the bin\SelfSign directory of the WDK. The SelfSign directory includes a copy of the driver signing tools and the readme file Selfsign_readme.htm. The readme file includes additional information about driver package signing for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista during driver development and testing.

For general information about Windows driver signing, see the  Driver Signing Requirements for Windows Web site. For general information about device and driver installation, see the  Device and Driver Installation Web site.