Do you have an older printer whose driver works on Windows 7, but the printer refuses to install on windows 8? I found that my Xerox Phaser 4400N laser printer installation got into a loop, displaying a prompt to install the driver, and never proceeded to the next step.
After some hunting on the web, I found out what I needed to search for: "Install unsigned driver in windows 8".
Once I searched for that, I found several pages all describing the same procedure. I am repeating the helpful instructions here:
First I downloaded the printer driver from the manufacturer's website.
Move the mouse curser to the upper right part on the screen and select
Settings -> Change PC Settings -> General –> Under “Advanced Startup” –> Restart Now
Now the system will restart and might take some minutes to show up the boot menu. Wait for It patiently.
After some time you will be prompted with a menu with following options.
- Continue
- Troubleshoot
- Turn off
Choose Troubleshoot
Then the following menu appears.
- Refresh your PC
- Reset your PC
- Advanced Options
Choose Advanced Options
Then the following menu appears
- System Restore
- System Image Recovery
- Automatic Repair
- Command Prompt
- Windows Startup Settings
Choose Windows Startup Settings, then click Restart.
Now the computer will restart and the boot menu appears.
Press the number for “Disable Driver signature Enforcement” from the menu.
Now windows will start and you can do the installation of the driver that is not signed.
I ran the downloaded driver executable. It extracted all the driver files in C:\Xerox\...
Then you need to do this:
Press Windows + X for the windows menu, press P or click Control Panel
Click on Hardware and Sound
Under Devices and Printers, click on Advanced Printer Setup
It detected my printer, so I clicked Next
Click Have Disk.
Browse to the folder where the printer drivers were extracted (in my case it was C:\Xerox\... )
Find the inf file and click Open, then OK
IMPORTANT: Now change the printer manufacturer and model to the correct one before clicking Next. (This is not obvious at this point.)
Proceed with the installation as prompted.
After installation, re-start windows as usual so windows in not in the unsafe unsigned driver installation mode.
