Knowledge Base

ReadyDriver Plus (official website) is a tool used to allow Windows 2008 to utilise unsigned drivers that we have included in all our Windows installation images to date. Since approximately 21 June 2010, Microsoft have started to distribute a change on Windows Update that has resulted in ReadyDriver Plus being less reliable than it previously was.

Background Information

You may safely skip over this section if desired, it just explains in detail what ReadyDriver Plus does and why it has previously been required.

• The Xen drivers for windows are open-source, and so are not signed by Microsoft. The drivers are perfectly stable, but Windows 2008 generally requires drivers to be signed or it will error out during bootup.
• Its possible to disable this by pressing "F8" during bootup and selecting "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement", but this needs to be executed every time you boot.
• ReadyDriver Plus lists itself as a second operating system within the Windows boot menu and sets itself as the default operating system to boot after a short 3 second timeout.
• When selected, ReadyDriver Plus simply reloads the Windows boot menu and simulates some key strokes. First it, selects Windows 2008 (rather than itself) from the 2-item menu, and then simulates a press of F8. Next it sends a few up-arrow strokes to select the "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" option, and finally sends an Enter keystroke to start Windows.
• After a recent update, Windows seems prone to missing keystrokes from ReadyDriver Plus. Sometimes an up-arrow is missed and safe mode is selected, and sometimes the Enter is missed and the VPS is stuck at the boot menu.
• Even when it works correctly, its still a bit annoying as it adds a good 5 seconds to the bootup time.

How to Remove ReadyDriver Plus

Login to your Windows VPS with Administrator account using Remote Desktop (explained here) or Rescue Console.

Click Start, then Run, type in "cmd.exe" and press Enter.

In the DOS prompt that appears, type in:

bcdedit /set testsigning on

This will allow the Xen driver to load; however it has an annoying habit of displaying "Test Mode" at the four corners of the screen (see example) - a bit pointless, since you know testsigning mode is on. You can use a program called RemoveWatermark to disable this.

In the DOS prompt you have already opened, type in:

start http://mammothvpscustomer.com/RemoveWatermark.zip

If you have IE ESC enabled (which it is by default), you will be told that the site is untrusted. Click 'Add' to view the list of Trusted Sites.

Then click 'Add' and 'Close'.

Go back to the DOS prompt, press Up arrow and then Enter to retry downloading the RemoveWatermark program.

When prompted, click 'Open'. The .zip will download and open, now double-click 'RemoveWatermark_20090509' entry.

Next, run the program that corresponds to your operating system type:

• if you chose 32-bit Windows during installation (the default), double-click RemoveWatermarkX86.exe
• if you chose 64-bit Windows during installation, double-click RemoveWatermarkX64.exe

Windows will ask you to confirm the program the program can be run directly from the .zip file - click 'Run'.

Windows will then confirm you want to run an unsigned application - click 'Run'.

RemoveWatermark runs in a DOS style window. Press 'Y' when prompted.

Then press 'Enter' to exit.

The last thing to do is remove ReadyDriver Plus. To do so, click Start, then Control Panel.

Double click 'Programs and Features'.

Single-click ReadyDriver Plus and then click 'Uninstall' off the toolbar.

Click 'Yes' to remove ReadyDriver Plus.

Lastly, you should reboot your VPS as soon as its convenient to do so to confirm that it is still starting up correctly. Click Start, then the little right arrow thing near the bottom right of the menu, then choose Restart. Select Reconfiguration as the reason to restart.

You may wish to do this during business hours so you can use Online Chat if you encounter a problem.