general questions about certified drivers

I am thinking about moving from 32-bit vista ultimate to 64-bit ultimate, but I have read that non-certified drivers cannot [easily] be used on vista x64. Has this changed much in SP1, etc?

If not, what are the chances I will be affected by this rule? ie, what percent of non-beta drivers out there are NOT certified, etc? If virtually all non-beta drivers are certified, then I figure this restriction won't bother me as I never use beta drivers.

Is it recommended that I look up (on the appropriate websites) each and every driver that I would like to run, and see if it is certified??

Lastly, if any of you happen to know off the top of your heads whether the following hardware has certified drivers, please let me know...
I have the following hardware that I would like full functionality from in vista x64:
a LITE-ON DVD burner
creative sound blaster x-fi platinum fatal1ty
logitech orbit MP webcam
MS natural ergonomic keyboard 4000
logitech rx1000 laser mouse
nvidia 8800GT



thanks,
eddified

Creative is a definite HELL NO and will always be a HELL NO because they aren't going to release a certified driver. Instead they are going to repackage the same card with drivers that work and call it the X-Fi-2. Check out the creative website for their forums and see if this is the type of company you wish to be cheated by, I mean do business with anymore.

8800 GT, yes:

Logitech Quickcam Orbit MP, yes:*
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/435/245&cl=us,en

Logitech RX1000 Lasermouse (ROEM) yes:**
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/428/959&cl=us,en

nVidia 8800GT yes:
ForceWare Release 169

MS natural ergonomic keyboard 4000 come on, what do YOU think lol)***
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/DownloadResult.aspx?prod=m_nek4000&os=WVista_64〈=en&driverVersion=IntelliType%20Pro%206.2%2064-bit%20for%20Windows%20Vista
Lite-on DVD burner, who knows. There were about 30 lite-on optical drives to choose drivers for at the lite-on site. You could have any or all of them for all I know.

*Logitech does not say exactly on their website that their drivers are WHQL labeled, but my g15 keyboard works with the downloads I got there.

**Check the logitech forums under web cams for more info. Depending upon when your web cam was made, there are different drivers.

I have not installed my MS wireless keyboard or mouse, but I have been read several places on this forum that there is a Vista optional update or KB that you have to install so that Vista will recognize the cordless device.

Also, I did not download any special drivers for my DVD (LG Blueray read/write) and it works fine. I however also did not run the CD that came with it because it had Creative software on it and creative apparently is deliberately sabotaging their software so it WON'T work with Vista. The native software in Vista will play the HDD, Blueray and regular DVD formats as i understand it.

Have fun.

Thank you, bubba.

My main question is still this: does vista SP1 relax any of the restrictions about only using certified drivers? If not, I don't think i'll move to vista x64. I already own a creative x-fi and i want it to work. (but yes, i agree that creative is a dishonest, good-for-nothing company and i will not buy from them again).

Hello eddified,

Welcome to the Forums.

You may want to have a look at the thread at the link below.

Disable Driver Signing Enforcement in Vista64

I hope you can find what you are looking for here at the Forums.


Later Ted

Hello again eddified,

The answer is no!

They're not going to. Enforced driver signing is one of the new, much touted
security features in Vista. If anything, security features will only get tighter
in the future. Something to look forward to?


Later Ted

Maybe. Depends on whether more and more hardware vendors decide to get their drivers certified. As I understand it, the burden of getting a driver certified is quite onerous. If the burden keeps lots of drivers from being certified, then perhaps it will be more of a nuisance than something to look forward to. My reasoning is that if certified drivers aren't available most of the time, the few times they aren't available will cause people to not want to ever use an operating system that requires said certified drivers.

I suppose when Windows 7 comes out, if all versions (ie, not just the 64 bit versions) require certified drivers then of course the driver vendors will HAVE to get them certified.....