Note: This only affects the yellow GS-911usb Gen 1 and GS-911blu interfaces. It does not affect the red GS-911usb Gen 2, GS-911wifi or GS-911 3-pin.
Explanation
We have been seeing a trend in customers who have newer Windows 10 machines getting a driver signature verification error when attempting to run the GS-911 Downloader software. While the GS-911 Downloader's driver is signed, the signature does not meet updated requirements from Microsoft, resulting in the error message. This only affects (1) new PCs/laptops that were sold with Windows 10 Anniversary edition (or newer) pre-installed, and (2) some older Windows PCs (eg. Windows 7) that are managed in a Windows domain with strict driver verification configured.
Problem symptom
When you first run the GS-91 Downloader application and are prompted to connect the device to the PC, a message is shown with the following information:
Failed to communicate with the GS911 interface. Please check that the interface and USB cable is connected properly to a USB socket
No USB device found
To confirm that this is due to a driver verification mismatch, open the Windows Device Manager and navigate to Universal Serial Bus controllers. A yellow exclamation triangle next to the HEX Code USB or Bluetooth interface should be visible:
Opening the HEX Code device's properties (right-click and select Properties) will display the following in the Device status box:
Solution
We have released version 1805.3 of the GS-911 Downloader utility that will install certified USB drivers that are fully compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 10. See the related announcement.
Note that the current GS-911 PC application version 1711.3 does not include these drivers yet, so for customers installing the software for the first time on a PC, it will uninstall the new certified drivers. If this happens, the GS-911 Downloader can simply be launched again to reinstall the certified drivers.
Previous work-around
There are numerous guides on the internet detailing exactly how to turn off the driver signature verification in Windows, for example this one: https://www.howtogeek.com/167723/how-to-disable-driver-signature-verification-on-64-bit-windows-8.1-so-that-you-can-install-unsigned-drivers/ (Method 1 seems to work for most users. Method 2 may be easier to follow, but is not permanent)
For older Windows versions on a domain that exhibit this problem, the work-around is different, because the domain administrator may not want to relax the driver signature verification settings.
If the PC must remain on the domain (eg. a company PC):
- Use the GS-911 Downloader on another PC to download the GS-911 software installer and copy it to the desired PC where you want to install it. The driver problem may still occur with the GS-911 software too, though.
If the PC is not actively being used on a domain:
- Remove the PC from the domain manually
- Navigate to Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Computer Name
- Press the "Change..." button ("to rename this computer")
- Change the membership from "Domain" to "Workgroup". Choose any workgroup name that works for you (eg. "HOME").
- Press OK and restart the PC as prompted.
- After leaving the domain, it is likely needed to follow the same steps to disable driver signature verification as explained above, before you can run the GS-911 software successfully.