A solution to "When Windows won't finish booting" (work-in-progress)

[dbbotkin]

The Solution: F8 on boot, then 'Disable Drive Signature Enforcement' then figure out how to fix it

The Problem:
Windows 7 has a system for driver security validation, at least my system does. I used Package Manager to update some drivers (foreshadowing) and noticed the there were a lot of "Please verify that you want to install this . . ." messages. Everything went peachy until it was time to reboot. Then it booted into "gee, your Windows didn't start, let me try to fix it" followed by a long wait ending with "well, I did what I could; see let's see if it helped . . ." Repeat that 'for loop' over an hour two.

Then I got curious about "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" in the F8 menu and gave it a go. I expect the GitHub community will relate to seeing a computer spring back to life after such an experience. Now I'm using Package manager to try to unwind the software updates and get a successful reboot into Windows 7.

There is a way to disable drive signing code verification, I'll check it out and report here.

If anyone is interested, I put this here on Github for three reasons:

1. It took me a long time to get to this solution
2. It is at the nexus of NI, Python and Windows 7 (where else to put it?)
3. It relates to NI and the "always trust NI software" request that is now part of downloads

N.B. This 'advice' is based on the premise that the Windows (whatever) is exclusively supporting a system of instrumentation--NOT a general purpose computer--and that there is no personal information or trade secret stuff connected to it or present on any disk etc. attached. Windows 7 has no significant protection against hacking or virus attacks. I use a MacOS to download from NI and transfer the apps over a closed network or a thumb drive. Be very cautious if you disable security.