viostor stopped working in Windows 8.1

[0xFEEDC0DE64]

The ISO of my Windows 8.1 installation is unchanged since decades, but newer versions of virtio-iso dont won't when I want to install the windows installation onto a virtio drive from qemu.

Back when it simply worked I had to point the installer directly to virtio/w8.1/amd64, but nowadays it just doesnt find a compatible driver.

When I install windows onto SATA instead and I try to use the explorer with right click to install the .inf file, I get an error message.

I suspect that newer versions of virtio-iso just dont work with viostor on 64bit windows 8.1. It works just fine on 32bit windows 8.1. See the attached screenshot of the (german) error message:

[vrozenfe]

@0xFEEDC0DE64 Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide cross-signed drivers anymore. Did you enable test signing and install certification file as mentioned in "virtio-win driver signatures" section at https://github.com/virtio-win/virtio-win-pkg-scripts/blob/master/README.md#virtio-win-driver-signatures. Best, Vadim.

[0xFEEDC0DE64]

But it still works in 32bit with signed drivers? Can I boot the installation itself in test mode? Can I simply use an very old virtio-iso version where the signature is still valid?

[vrozenfe]

Right,
the driver signing policy enforced on 64-bit platforms only. From the other side, our public releases include Win10(+) attestation signed drivers for all platforms (x86/amd64/arm64) and can be installed without enabling test signing. The only problem is Win8(+) 64-bit drivers which require enabling test signing and installing our certificate on the system. You can still use the old drivers signed with RH cross certificate. However, we always suggest using the latest drivers.

Vadim.

[kroese]

I had the same the problem where Win8.1 refused to load the 'virtio-scsi' driver in the w8 folder. But to my surprise it did load the one in w10 without problem, and it seems to work without issues.

So that might be a workaround: just use the win10 drivers on win8.