Windows 8.1 - Legacy Firewire Drivers

Question

Hello,

I need to use the legacy firewire drivers for my system.

Windows 8 does not have this driver anymore and it does not allow the installation of the driver files from a Windows 7 system due to driver signing.

The only way to get the driver to install is by enabling test mode and disabling something else. This results in a screen watermark.

Can Microsoft please provide a signed version of the Legacy driver? It would cure headaches for a big chunck of audio engineers who choose to use Windows.

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi,

We have made the legacy 1394 driver available to download for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 today. Please see the blog below and instruction on download/manual installation.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2014/09/10/announcing-the-availability-of-a-standalone-legacy-1394-ohci-firewire-package.aspx

thank you,

Koichi Hirao [MSFT]

Answer 2

Windows 8 does support firewire. You had a separate issue to the one this topic has been created for.

Answer 3

Windows 8 did not support Firewire, so I was unable to capture video from my Mini-DV camcorder to my PC like I could in Windows 7.

I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1.

Now I see my "Texas Intsruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller" in my Device Manager list. I can now capture video using my Firewire capture card in Premier Pro. So far so good.

Answer 4

Actually Windows 8.1 seems to have big problems with firewire/normal drivers especally for Audio devices.

I was trying to install it by using the "device manager" --> update driver --> "search for driver on the pc" --> select from a list --> Harddrive. (Sorry I was translating it from German..)

Then I Picket the *.inf file from the driver directory and chose the rigth device, ignored the warning and installed the driver.

It worked, The Audio interface's controll panel recognized the device, but lost it after a few minutes.

My Audio editing Software (Ableton) couldn't open the device driver...

So there is no other way than uninstalling this Windows 8.1 update and give them some time to think about it and hopefully fix it some day.

It sounds like you are dealing with a different situation than me. Are you trying to get the Legacy Firewire driver working? This is the driver for the computers firewire card rather than the driver for the audio interface.

The only method I have found to get the Legacy Firewire driver installed was to enable TEST SIGNING and disable INTEGRITY CHECKS. This will throw up a permanent water mark in the screen, which can be gotten rid of by doing some Googling and using software to clear the water mark,

It would appear the test signing and integrity check changes result in the computer being vulnerable in some way, but this is entirely the fault with Microsoft not trusting their own drivers ;)

Pity.

Answer 5

Hi,

 

If the drivers are not available for Windows 8.1, then you can download the drivers for Windows 7 and install them in compatibility mode and check. Follow the steps to install in Compatibility mode:

 

a. Right click on the driver installation file and select Properties then tap or click on the Compatibility tab.

b. Place a check in the Run this program in compatibility mode box.

c. Tap or click the drop down box and select a previous Operating System, then tap or click OK.

 

Reference:

Make older programs compatible with this version of Windows

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/older-programs-compatible-version-windows

 

You can also refer to:

What is program compatibility?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/what-program-compatibility

 

Compatibility Center.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/win8/CompatCenter/Home?Language=en-US

 

Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

       

Hello,

Although I appreciate the time you took to make that reply, I think you have failed to recognise that the legacy FW driver files from a Windows 7 machine can not have OS compatibility applied to them.

They are not, nor have they ever been, installed via their own installer. They are installed by the generic Windows driver installer, accessible through the device manager for example. Windows 8.1 (possibly Windows 8) blocks the Microsoft legacy drivers from being installed.

The Legacy drivers, by Microsoft, were not digitally signed by Microsoft resulting in the issue presented here.

Once again, thanks for the effort however it seems you have not taken the time to understand the situation.

Regards,

RK