8-Bit
Software
The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library
OmniFlop:
64-bit
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Last
Update: Thursday, 16 November 2023 12:17 (v3.1a) |
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This page
is for 64-bit users of OmniFlop (Windows Vista64,
Windows 7, 8 or 10 x64). If you are
running a 32-bit version of Windows (2000, XP, Vista or 7) then go here. |
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On This Page You Will Find |
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Overview |
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Download & Installation |
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Overview
The 64-bit version of OmniFlop is written for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 10. I do not have a 64-bit machine to test with and there has been limited feedback from 64-bit users (thanks to those who have!) so the download is totally untested and unsupported. In the past licenses have been used to get feedback but free licenses are so controversial they are not being used. If you would like to tell me if this works I would be grateful.
Download & Installation
There is an
additional installation step for 64-bit users of OmniFlop
compared with 32-bit users.
The download contains installation instructions in Adobe ‘pdf’ format. Do not follow them yet. You can read these with the free Adobe Reader at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, if you don’t already have it installed. If you want to read them immediately on-line they are also available here.
The download contains a user guide (OmniFlop.pdf), a Windows Floppy disk drive driver (OmniFlop.inf, OmniFlop.sys), a Windows Floppy disk controller driver (OmniFDC.inf, OmniFDC.sys), and a Wizard (OmniFlop.exe).
The Wizard can be used without installing the drivers, but only the ‘standard’ DOS formats can then be read, written or tested – none of the ‘extended formats’ will be available.
The drivers can also be used by your own software from v2.01 onwards. See support.
64-bit OmniFlop
The instructions for the 32-bit version of OmniFlop apply to the 64-bit version but you need to take
some additional steps first. See below.
Download the latest release of
OmniFlop64 here
Download the archive. Install the drivers following the instructions below ‑ either temporarily or permanently ‑ then run the Wizard.
Temporary Installation - Windows 7
Use the Advanced
Boot Options menu of Vista/7 to 'Disable Driver Signature Enforcement'.
- Reboot to the Advanced Boot Options menu
by pressing 'F8' during reboot - see here.
You should get something like the following menu:
- Select
the option 'Disable Driver Signature Enforcement' and press Enter.
- When
the system has rebooted install the drives using the usual (32-bit)
instructions.
Thanks go to Aleksandrs
Ribalka for testing this method.
This involves the
download of a Windows configuration utility and the signing of the OmniFlop drivers by your own system.
- Download DSEO from https://www.ngohq.com/driver-signature-enforcement-overrider.html
- Run DSEO.
- Enable test mode.
- Restart PC.
- Install OmniFlop drivers using the normal instructions. After installation, you will be prompted to reboot. Do not reboot yet.
- Run DSEO again.
- Select "sign a system file" and enter the two strings:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\OmniFlop.sys
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\OmniFDC.sys
- Now
restart your PC.
- Use OmniFlop.
Thanks go to Aleksandrs
Ribalka for this method.
For help or suggestions, use the ‘Support’ contact for OmniFlop or in the ‘About’ box from the Wizard.
From the 64-bit
version of Vista onwards Microsoft changed its policy on drivers and their installation
on Windows (see here). Under 'Global Issues for Driver Loading'
it states:
· Digital signatures are required for 64-bit kernel-mode drivers. Signed catalog (.cat) files are required for all kernel-mode packages that are to be installed on the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista. This applies to any software module that loads in kernel mode, including device drivers, filter drivers, and kernel services. The operating system does not load unsigned kernel modules that lack a signed catalog file.
There are two ways to obtain an appropriately signed catalog file:
§ Obtain a Windows Vista logo. Drivers that pass Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) testing receive a catalog file that is signed with the WHQL certificate.
§ Obtain a publisher identity certificate (PIC) and use the PIC to sign the package’s catalog file. To obtain a PIC, a publisher must first obtain a VeriSign Class 3 Commercial Software Publisher Certificate and then use that certificate to obtain a PIC from Microsoft that can be used to sign kernel-mode modules intended for 64-bit Windows Vista.
Note that Microsoft
left the 32-bit versions able to use 'free' un-certified drivers. But that
doesn't help 64-bit users of Vista and Win7.
Note that both
solutions involve reference (and payment) to Microsoft. The proceeds from
donations to OmniFlop over the past 6 years do not
cover the cost of submitting OmniFlop to Microsoft's
WHQL for certification nor obtaining a PIC.
For 64-bit users of OmniFlop this means you must explicitly allow Windows to use the OmniFlop64
driver. The sections above tell you how. You can either temporarily enable the OmniFlop
driver - for use of OmniFlop as and when you need it
- or permanently sign the OmniFlop driver specifically for use on your system and
allow it to run all the time.