Results for the Driver Certification Pre-validation Assessment

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 8.1

The Driver Certification Pre-validation assessment verifies that the drivers on a running Windows operating system qualify for the Windows Certification Program. The results include recommendations that help you resolve issues that the assessment finds, such as unsigned drivers or expired signatures.

In this topic:

  • Goals File

  • Metrics

  • Issues

For more information about the system requirements and assessment settings, see Driver Certification Pre-validation.

Goals File

You can create custom goals to measure your improvements in the Results View. Goals files are a triage tool that can help you understand how a PC is performing and to compare PCs in your business.

For example, goals for a basic laptop might be different than the goals you set for a high end desktop computer, or market expectations might change in such a way that you want the flexibility to define different goals and key requirements as time passes and technology improves.

When a metric value is compared to the goal for that metric, the status is color coded in the Result View as follows:

  • Light purple means that the system has a great user experience and that there are no perceived problems.

  • Medium purple means that the user experience is tolerable and you can optimize the system. Review the recommendations and analysis to see what improvements can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes.

  • Dark purple means that the system has a poor user experience and that there is significant room for improvements. Review the recommendations and analysis to see the improvements that can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes. You might have to consider making tradeoffs to deliver a high quality Windows experience.

  • No color means that there are no goals defined for the metric.

Note

In the Windows Assessment Toolkit for Windows 8, some assessments include default goals files. The first time you view results using this version of the tools, the default goals file is used. However, you can also define custom goals for Windows 8 the same way that you can for Windows 8.1.

You can set the goals file location and add a goals file to that location before you can use the UI to apply the custom goals. Once a goals file is selected it will continue to be the goals file that is used for any results that are opened.

Only one goals file can be used at a time. Goals for all assessments are set in a single goals file. The assessment tools will search for goals in the following order:

  1. A custom goals file

  2. Goals that are defined in the results file

  3. Goals that are defined in the assessment manifest

You can use the sample goals file that is provided at %PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Kits\8.1\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\SDK\Samples\Goals to create your own goals file.

Note

You cannot package a goals file with a job, but you can store it on a share for others to use.

Metrics

The results for this assessment provide information about devices and drivers on your system and identify Driver Certification issues. The following table describes the metrics that the Driver Certification Pre-validation assessment measures. You can expand these metrics to view sub-metrics.

Metric Description

All devices

Shows the total number of devices discovered in the system. Expand the result to see a list of all devices that were discovered in the system. Use the Group By drop-down button to sort the list by the properties for each device, including Device Name, Device Class or None (which is an unordered list of all discovered devices).

Certification level issues

Lists the number of critical certification-level issues that are preventing compliance with certification requirements. Expand the result to see a list of issues. Use the Group By drop-down button to sort the list by the properties for each device, including Driver File, Provider, Driver Version, Is Signed For Running Operating System or None (which is an unordered list of all the driver files).

Number of devices with issues

Shows the total number of device issues. Expand the result to see a list of issues. Use the Group By drop-down button to sort the list by the properties for each device, including Device Name, Problem Code (Count), Device Class, Device Description, Instance ID, Device Manufacturer or None (which is an unordered list of all the device files).

Expiration issues

Shows the number of expired certificates. Expand the result to see a list of issues. Use the Group By drop-down button to sort the list by any of the following properties for each issue, including: Is Expired, Driver File, Provider, Driver Version, Certificate Expire Date, Catalog Name, Device Name, Device Manufacturer, Device Class, Instance ID or None (which is an unordered list of all the driver files).

Catalog File Missing

No catalog file was found for this driver. Due to the unavailability of a catalog file, the trust level could not be evaluated. Reinstall this driver, or obtain a new driver from your driver vendor and install it.

Signature issues

Shows the number of signature issues that prevent the driver from meeting certification requirements. Expand the result to see a list of issues. Use the Group By drop-down button to sort the list by any of the following properties for each issue, including: Driver File, Provider, Driver Version, Certificate Signer, Driver Trust Level, Catalog Name, Device Name, Device Manufacturer, Device Class, Instance ID or None (which is an unordered list of all the driver files).

Issues

The Driver Certification Pre-validation assessment identifies issues, provides information about the way that these issues affect the system, and suggests possible resolution steps. The total number of issues that are preventing compliance with the certification requirements can be expanded to see additional details. The following issues and recommendations are associated with the Driver Certification Pre-validation assessment.

Issue Description Recommendation

Expired Certificate

Lists the drivers signed by an expired certificate.

Contact the driver vendor for an updated version and then install it to resolve the issue. May include links to references for additional recommendations and analysis.

Incorrect operating system version

Lists the drivers that have a Windows logo for a different version of the Windows operating system.

Contact the driver vendor to get a driver that is signed for the Windows operating system that you are running, and install that driver. May include links to more recommendations and analysis references.

Problem Code #

Shows the number of devices that are not working correctly due to a problem code error.

Choose the link that is provided, and investigate the error code and possible resolutions. For information about specific error codes, see Microsoft Problem Codes.

Test Signed Driver

Shows the number of drivers signed by a test root authority.

Contact the driver vendor to get a driver that meets digital signature requirements, and then install the new driver. May include links to more recommendations and analysis references.

Warning
Any drivers on an OEM image that is identified for using a test signature should be removed from the system.

The assessment reports an exit code of 0x80050006

This error occurs when maintenance tasks have been registered on the PC but have not completed before the assessment run. This prevents the assessment from running, as maintenance tasks often impact assessment metrics.

To resolve this issue, do one of the following:

  1. Ensure that the computer is connected to a network and is running on AC power. Manually initiate pending maintenance tasks with the following command from an elevated prompt:

    rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

  2. Disable regular and idle maintenance tasks, and stop all maintenance tasks before running the assessment.

See Also

Concepts

Driver Certification Pre-validation
Assessments
Driver Verification

Other Resources

Windows Assessment Toolkit Technical Reference
Windows Assessments Console Step-by-Step Guide