Installing unsigned drivers on Vista 64

OK, if you ended up here, it's probably because you've been trying to install an unsigned driver (eg. XBCD Xbox Gamepad, PSPLinkUSB), and found out about the requirement for all drivers to be signed in Vista 64.

Now, you shouldn't rush with the first article you found on the web that tells you how to disable signed drivers in Vista altogether. The MUCH smarter way is to run Vista 64 in test mode instead, and self sign your drivers. And to be clear, NO, this does NOT require you to recompile the drivers! You can just pick up the drivers you got from someone and sign them away. Of course, one could comment on yet another of Microsoft's stupid "we don't trust our users" decisions of having to enable the test mode to have users install their self signed drivers. A MUCH SMARTER way would have been to do that outside of the test mode as well. After all, if a user went as far as installing their own root certificate, it's probably that it should be trusted.

Anyway, the procedure is as follows (and it is described in much more details here):

1. Get Vista to boot in test mode always with the command:

bcdedit.exe /store C:\Boot\BCD /set testsigning yes

(And there again, I have to curse Microsoft for NOT indicating with bcdedit /? that you can use the /store option to specify your store, and having to spend HOURS trying to figure out why I was getting the following error which is apparently expected, if you boot multiple OSes and don't let Microsoft take over your boot record:
The boot configuration data store could not be opened.
The system cannot find the file specified.)

After you enter that command, you MUST reboot Vista.

Note: Once Test Mode is enabled, you will get the Windows Version as well as "Test Mode" displayed over the background image. If you're bothered by this, what on earth are you doing with your computer? Staring at the background?

2. Download the necessary DDK SelfSign files, which I am CONVENIENTLY providing to you HERE, as Microsoft is also an ass there - People shouldn't have to download 2.7 GB to gain access to 700 KB worth of files!
Extract them to the directory where you have your driver

3. Let's say you want to install the PSPLinkusb driver. First you want to generate your own root certificate for that driver with:

makecert -$ individual -r -pe -ss "Self Signed Drivers" -n CN="Self Signed Drivers" selfsign.cer

4. Then you install the certificate you just created to the trusted root directory:

certmgr /add selfsign.cer /s /r localMachine root

(NB: if you have UAC on, you will need to run this command in a "run as administrator" command prompt)

5. Finally, you sign EACH .sys file using the certificate:

signtool sign /v /s "Self Signed Drivers" /n "Self Signed Drivers" libusb0.sys
signtool sign /v /s "Self Signed Drivers" /n "Self Signed Drivers" libusb0_x64.sys

Voila! Now you can install these drivers and get on with your life.

For completion, I am providing below the result of a successful certification for the libusb drivers:

E:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOCD\0.2.0\drivers\ft2232>makecert -$ individual -r -pe -ss "Self Signed Drivers" -n CN="Self Signed Drivers" selfsign.cer
Succeeded

E:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOCD\0.2.0\drivers\ft2232>certmgr /add selfsign.cer /s /r localMachine root
CertMgr Succeeded

E:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOCD\0.2.0\drivers\ft2232>signtool sign /v /s "Self Signed Drivers" /n "Self Signed Drivers" libusb0.sys
The following certificate was selected:
   Issued to: Self Signed Drivers
   Issued by: Self Signed Drivers
   Expires:   2040.01.01 00:59:59
   SHA1 hash: E0CEAD6474EFD1BF0F6D47501FF3F069C20FD7C7

Done Adding Additional Store

Attempting to sign: libusb0.sys
Successfully signed: libusb0.sys

Number of files successfully Signed: 1
Number of warnings: 0
Number of errors: 0

E:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOCD\0.2.0\drivers\ft2232>signtool sign /v /s "Self Signed Drivers" /n "Self Signed Drivers" libusb0_x64.sys
The following certificate was selected:
   Issued to: Self Signed Drivers
   Issued by: Self Signed Drivers
   Expires:   2040.01.01 00:59:59
   SHA1 hash: E0CEAD6474EFD1BF0F6D47501FF3F069C20FD7C7

Done Adding Additional Store

Attempting to sign: libusb0_x64.sys
Successfully signed: libusb0_x64.sys

Number of files successfully Signed: 1
Number of warnings: 0
Number of errors: 0

E:\Program Files (x86)\OpenOCD\0.2.0\drivers\ft2232>