Synaptics - Windows 8.1, updating Synaptics failed

Question

On Windows 8.1, I tried to install the latest Synaptics Touchpad Driver v17.0.19 and it failed for some unknown reasons. Turns out it's problem with Synaptics, not Windows. Synaptics did not "Sign" the files inside the installation properly, and so Windows doesn't allow the installation. See below for lots of solutions.

Answer 1

Thanks to Fabian for informing me of the risky nature of Dev-Host, prompting this much-needed update.

I experienced the same issue, and thought I'd try reinstalling old drivers to see if that helped.

Solution/permanent workaround

A more permanent solution taken from the answer posted by Anonymous, reformatted with pictures shamelessly taken from this article on HowToGeek.

The short version solution of this is: disable driver signature enforcement and then install the latest Synaptics driver.

Disabling driver signature enforcement

1. Press Win+I, or open up the Windows Charms bar from your right upper/lower corner and select "Settings".

2. Select "Change PC Settings" from the Settings-part of the charms menu.

   

3. In the Settings-app, select "Update & recovery".

   

4. Then, choose "Recovery" from the same left-side menu.

   

5. You'll get the following display, where you'll need to restart your computer to continue, which will happen when you select "Restart now".

   

6. Now, once restarted, you'll need to select "Troubleshoot" as the option on the startup menu.

   

7. Head into the "Advanced options".

   

8. Then to the core of what we're looking for: "Startup Settings"!

   

9. We'll have to do another restart, as we'll be modifying options that are applied at boot.

   

10. At last, now you'll have to press F7 to disable driver signature enforcement for this boot.

    

11. When your computers has booted up, you'll need to install the Synaptics touchpad driver, and it should complete without issue.

12. Once installed, it's highly recommended that you restart your computer one last time.

In the event that it doesn't seem like the touchpad driver is in use, you'll need to manually change the driver for your touchpad device. Here's a quote from the other answer:

If the Synaptics settings does not appear under Mouse properties after completing the preceding steps, try the following:

1. Open device manager
2. Find the touchpad device (“PS/2 Compatible Mouse”)
3. Right click on the device and click “Update Driver Software”
4. Select “Browse my computer for driver software”
5. Select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
6. ncheck the option “Show compatible hardware”
7. nder “Manufacturer”, scroll down to “Synaptics”
8. Under “Model”, the 17.0.19 driver should appear.
9. Select the driver and click next.
10. Click “Yes” to the “Update Driver Warning” pop-up.
11. Restart

Cause of error

It's worth noting that it seems like it failed due to not being properly signed. When attempting to install just the driver, manually, from the device management console, it would allow you to select it, but would fail due to not being digitally signed. It's an odd peculiarity that I hope gets fixed relatively soon.

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Previous workaround

The following steps are not recommended, as they use older versions of Synaptic and needs to be downloaded from less-desired locations.

Another fellow troubleshooter already had the issue, and found an older version of the suite, v17.0.6.13, which used to be available, but the host is down.

Simply installing this version, after making sure I had uninstalled previous versions, can "solve" the problem.

Note: Here are two alternative version. Be careful with the download links on the sites, as some ads might give you unwanted software: Link 1: recommended | Link 2: careful!

Answer 2

Here is a trick on how to install Synaptics Touchpad Driver v17.0.19

> WIN + I
> Change PC Settings
> Update and Recovery
> Recovery
> Under 'Advanced startup' click 'Restart Now'. Make sure to save your work first.
> Select 'Troubleshoot'
> Advanced Options
> Startup Settings and click Restart
> When it boots up, press 7 to Disable driver signature enforcement
> Install Synaptics as you would normally do.
> Restart

If the Synaptics settings does not appear under Mouse properties after completing the preceding steps, try the following

> Open device manager
> Find the touchpad device (“PS/2 Compatible Mouse”)
> Right click on the device and click “Update Driver Software”
> Select “Browse my computer for driver software”
> Select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
> Uncheck the option “Show compatible hardware”
> Under “Manufacturer”, scroll down to “Synaptics”
> Under “Model”, the 17.0.19 driver should appear.
> Select the driver and click next.
> Click “Yes” to the “Update Driver Warning” pop-up.
> Restart

Answer 3

I realize this question has already been answered, but I am posting this for future readers.

I tried the solution given by Thor, which was to install an older version. The install succeeded, but I still had no touchpad driver upon system reboot.

I performed the following steps to get around this:

• Install Synaptics version 17.0.6.13. DO NOT REBOOT.
• Open the Synaptics install target folder (C:/Program Files/Synaptics/SynTP).
• Open file properties for oemsetup.bat.
• At the bottom of the General tab, click Unblock.
• Reboot.

If you reboot and still have no touchpad driver, you may want to go through each of the files in the install target folder and unblock it.

Answer 4

A very strange way but worked 100%

1. Just download the driver from synaptics.com

2. Do not extract the .zip file, launch the setup from the .zip file and setup will continue successfully after answering a dialog box question about installing drivers from Synaptic corporation.

I have tried a lot of versions specially Dell Synaptics touchpad drivers but many errors happened with them.