USB Blaster with Windows 8?

[Altera_Forum]

Hello, 

 I recently updated to windows 8 64 bit with no real thought put into it. When I realized I still have a full term of school work ahead of me that requires my DE2 115 board I panicked and ran straight to quartus. I was thankful when my Quartus worked fine and didnt think anything of it. Then it came to the time where I needed to program my board. Sure enough the drivers that were such a pain in the *** to install the first time for USB Blaster didnt transfer over. So here I sit, broken hearted, trying to follow the same procedure as before and update my Blaster drivers but I keep running into an error telling me my drivers were either corrupted or the victim of tampering. Then it tells me to visit the website of the manufacturer and check the support section of driver software. So here I am brilliant forummers, any suggestions?  Thanks Trent

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

while I'm not sure the problem is similar with the Win7 64Bit installation, but maybe you give it a try... The WebEdition is only a 32Bit and the 32Bit drivers and the JTAG server do not operate under 64Bit Edition... My workaround was to install the standalone Programmer, which solved the "no hardware" issue...

[Altera_Forum]

This didn't seem to fix the issue. Any windows 8 drivers out there?

[Altera_Forum]

I'm running Win 8 RTM and was able to get 12.0SP2 working with a DE0-Nano after installing the stand alone programmer. 

The usbblaster inf does not seem to properly load some files but it was the jtag server that caused me problems. The Altera dlls are a few months older than the latest FTDI files but that does not appear to be the issue with the install. I installed and run without setting "run as administrator" or using compatibility mode for the applications. I did not uninstall the previous driver when installing the stand alone programmer. I'd expect similar behavior from earlier revs (pre-release) of Win 8. What release version are you running? Most releases will ignore installed drivers (even signed) on an over-install because the security policy has changed. I'm guessing that you are running an older version of Quartus. Even 12 does not have a properly published installer but that only generates a warning. Thankfully the drivers are signed.   -Dan

[Altera_Forum]

I am running 11.0sp1 but you're saying that my drivers arent signed anymore because of the OS update?

[Altera_Forum]

Wow. That was perfect. Carlhermann I think your solution should have worked but i believe that I didnt the stand alone as you recommended i should. Dan i did the stand alone programmer and everything is working great. I want to thank both of you for your help. Now I can get back to my labs.  

 Thanks again Trent

[Altera_Forum]

No, I didn't mean to say that your drivers are no longer signed only that the policy for loading drivers has changed. 

The driver itself and its signature have not changed.   When Windows 8 is installed over an existing OS installation, it will often ignore the existing drivers. If these existing drivers are not signed or are changed, it will not allow you to install them even if you manually attempt to install them. For example, my sound drivers that came with my notebook are signed and the installer is signed but when I over-installed Win 8 RTM they were replaced by the class driver. Another example, I'd like to test a pre-release driver package that I've self signed. The installer (or manual update) will attempt to install and load this driver but I'll get a pop-up dialog box with a warning. If I modify any of the files in the driver package after signing then I'll get an error.   I believe, based on the error you posted, that your driver package was modified after signing. For example, Altera may have taken the signed driver package from FTDI, changed file names and configuration files, combined with other files to create the installer package and signed the installer package but didn't properly sign the modified drivers. Everything installed fine using the signed installer under your previous OS but the drivers were not re-installed when you upgraded to Win8. Attempting to update the driver under device manager will generate the type of error message you describe. You may be able to re-install your current version using the Altera Quartus installer but not knowing the exact cause of your error I can't say for sure if this will be successful.   I sincerely hope that I have not made the situation more confusing for you.

[Altera_Forum]

Glad to hear you're back up and running. You can ignore my previous reply. :)

[Altera_Forum]

Hi... Installing USB BLASTER In Windows 8 Try this.... 

  1. Windows Key + R  2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00  3. Click the "OK" button  4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen  5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen  6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen  7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen  8. Click "Restart" button  9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen  10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"  11. Once the system starts, install the "USB Blaster" driver as you would on Windows 7    Worked fine in my computer running Windows 8 Pro OEM (64-bit)

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi... Installing USB BLASTER In Windows 8 Try this....   1. Windows Key + R  2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00  3. Click the "OK" button  4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen  5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen  6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen  7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen  8. Click "Restart" button  9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen  10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"  11. Once the system starts, install the "USB Blaster" driver as you would on Windows 7    Worked fine in my computer running Windows 8 Pro OEM (64-bit)  --- Quote End ---      hi..... I tried for installing USB blaster in window 8 (32 bit os), but there was no any solution for my problem, actually I used WIN 8 OS on my PC and when I go for Installation of USB blaster window was unable to install USB blaster... If you have any other solution for this then please tell me...  Thanx....

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 I sign'd the USB blaster driver files with our own certificate. You can download them using a link. I am sorry i cannot post a link so this may help tuedacs nl / app / AlteraUsbBlaster zip  Now the USB blaster should work on windows 8, 64 bit.  Kind regards,  Gerard

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi... Installing USB BLASTER In Windows 8 Try this....   1. Windows Key + R  2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00  3. Click the "OK" button  4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen  5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen  6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen  7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen  8. Click "Restart" button  9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen  10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"  11. Once the system starts, install the "USB Blaster" driver as you would on Windows 7    Worked fine in my computer running Windows 8 Pro OEM (64-bit)  --- Quote End ---    Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! :D

[Altera_Forum]

These Steps worked great with me ... thanks for the help  

  --- Quote Start ---  Hi... Installing USB BLASTER In Windows 8 Try this....   1. Windows Key + R  2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00  3. Click the "OK" button  4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen  5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen  6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen  7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen  8. Click "Restart" button  9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen  10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"  11. Once the system starts, install the "USB Blaster" driver as you would on Windows 7    Worked fine in my computer running Windows 8 Pro OEM (64-bit)  --- Quote End ---  

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Hi... Installing USB BLASTER In Windows 8 Try this....   1. Windows Key + R  2. Enter shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00  3. Click the "OK" button  4. System will restart to a "Choose an option" screen  5. Select "Troubleshoot" from "Choose an option" screen  6. Select "Advanced options" from "Troubleshoot" screen  7. Select "Windows Startup Settings" from "Advanced options" screen  8. Click "Restart" button  9. System will restart to "Advanced Boot Options" screen  10. Select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"  11. Once the system starts, install the "USB Blaster" driver as you would on Windows 7    Worked fine in my computer running Windows 8 Pro OEM (64-bit)  --- Quote End ---    this approach also did work for me on Windows 8.1 (Enterprise edition), 64 bit. I am using the DE NANO C4 development kit for my purposes