Fixed: Windows Cannot Verify the Digital Signature Error Code 52

Windows Digital Signatures

Based on Microsoft public key infrastructure technology, the Windows digital signatures are implemented to verify the identity of the software publisher or the driver vendor. The digital signature can protect your Windows from potential threats and infections of some malicious programs.

According to the explanation from Microsoft, Windows uses a valid digital signature to verify some information, including:

• The file, or the collection of files (such as a driver package), is signed.
• The signer is trusted.
• The certification authority that authenticated the signer is trusted.
• The collection of files was not altered after it was published.

In order to be installed and run on the latest Windows operating system, the drivers and programs must be digitally signed. However, there are still some legitimate programs or drivers that are not signed, and you may encounter certain problems while installing them.

About Windows Cannot Verify the Digital Signature Code 52

Sometimes, your USB ports might fail to recognize any hardware connected to your device, and you will see the error code 52 in the properties of the USB driver. The USB driver code 52 is a typical error related to the digital signature. It commonly occurs after updating or upgrading Windows and comes up with the following error message:

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)

Besides, you might receive some other different error messages related to Windows digital signature, such as “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. (0xc0000428)”, “Digital Signature not found”, and so on.

If you receive the digital signature error unluckily, take it easy. Some feasible solutions reported by the users are listed in the following contents, and you can work your way down the list until you fix the issue effectively.

Fix 1: Modify Windows Registry

In most cases, this issue is caused by 2 registry entries named UpperFilters and LowerFilters, and some users have fixed the problem simply by deleting them. So, if you receive the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device” error message, try deleting these registries at first. The steps are listed below.

Step 1: Press Windows + R to invoke Run window. Type regedit and click OK to open Registry Editor.

Step 2: Navigate to the following path: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass{36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}.

Step 3: Keep the {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000} key selected, and find the UpperFilters and LowerFilters entries in the right pane. Right-click them and choose Delete.

Step 4: Click OK to confirm the operation. Restart your computer and check if the error code 52 disppears.

Fix 2: Update or Uninstall the Problematic Driver

If this is just related to a specific device driver, perhaps the problem lies on the driver itself. In this case, it should be helpful to update or uninstall the problematic driver. You can follow the instructions below:

Step 1: Right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager to open it.

Step 2: Double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers to expand the category.

Step 3: Locate the problematic USB driver. Commonly, the device driver which runs into the error code 52 will be displayed with a yellow exclamation mark in Device Manger, and it may be named as Unknown USB Device.

Step 4: Right-click the problematic driver and choose Update driver.

Step 5: Choose the Search automatically for updated driver software option to proceed. If there are any updates detected, install them according to the onscreen instructions and then reboot your computer.

Alternatively, you can also choose to uninstall the driver, which has effectively removed the USB error code 52 for some users. Just right-click the driver, choose Uninstall device, and click Uninstall to confirm the operation. Then, restart your system, and the default driver will be reinstalled automatically.

Fix 3: Use System File Checker Utility

The corrupted or missing system files could also trigger the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file/driver” error message. To resolve the problem, you can use the built-in System File Checker utility referring to the tutorial below.

Step 1: Open Run window.

Step 2: Input cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 3: Type the command sfc /scannow in the console and press Enter to execute it.

Then, this tool will start scanning your system files and automatically replace the problematic files with a fresh cached copy. All you need to do is to wait patiently until the process is 100% completed. After that, restart your device and check if the USB error code 52 is resolved.

Fix 4: Scan for File System Errors

It’s said that this issue might have something to do with the file system error. So, you can try scanning your drives for file system errors and fixing them.

To do that, you can use the CHKDSK tool. Just launch Command Prompt with administrative privileges, input the command chkdsk e: /f, and press Enter. Restart your computer after the process is completed.

Besides, you can also use a professional program to check and fix file system errors for your hard drive. Here, MiniTool Partition Wizard is recommended for you. It can help you recover lost data, back up Windows, and of course, deal with the file system issues within a few clicks. Just click the following button to download it to have a try.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard Free on your computer. Launch it to get the main interface.

Step 2: Select the drive you want to scan for and choose Check File System feature from the left action panel. You can also activate this feature by selecting Check File System from the context menu after right-clicking the drive.

Step 3: In the pop-up window, choose Check & fix detected errors option and click Start button.

Fix 5: Disable Integrity Checks

As mentioned before, the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device” error message appears when your Windows is trying to verify the digital signature and integrity of the device. In theory, disabling this option may resolve the problem and enable you to install the driver of the device again.

To disable integrity checks, you need to:

Step 1: Run Command Prompt as administrator.

Step 2: Input the following command lines and press Enter key after each to execute them:

• bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
• bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON

Step 3: Go to check if the USB error code 52 is fixed or not. If this doesn’t work, open the command console again and execute the following command lines this time:

• bcdedit /deletevalue loadoptions
• bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF

Fix 6: Disable Driver Signature Enforcement

If the above methods fail to resolve the issue for you, perhaps you can disable driver signature enforcement. In this way, you will be able to install drivers for the problematic devices bypassing Windows checking for the signatures.

Here’s a simple guide.

Step 1: Press Windows + I to open Settings.

Step 2: Go to Update & Security > Recovery and click Restart now button under Advanced startup section in the right pane.

Step 3: When you enter Windows Recovery Environment, navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings and then click Restart button.

Step 4: When you get the following interface, press 7 or F7 to choose the Disable driver signature enforcement option.

Then, your Windows will boot up automatically. You need to open Device Manager and try updating the problematic drivers referring to the steps mentioned above. Now, the USB error code 52 should be resolved.

For more information about driver signature enforcement and how to disable it, you can read this article: How to Disable Driver Signature Enforcement? Try These Methods.

Fix 7: Perform System Restore

Finally, you can perform system restore to bring your Windows back to a previous status, which may help you get rid of the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device” issue.

Step 1: Open Run dialog, input sysdm.cpl and click OK to access System Properties.

Step 2: Switch to the System Protection tab and click System Restore.

Step 3: Click Next to skip the welcome page. Then, choose a restore point and click Next button.

Step 4: Click Finish button to confirm the operation, and a restart will be required to apply the changes.

Hopefully, the Windows digital signature issue will be removed successfully.

Here are 7 feasible methods to get rid of the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device” error.Click to Tweet

Bottom Line

Have you resolved the “Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file/driver” issue with the solutions introduced in this article? All we know about how to fix the issue is in this post. If you have better solutions, please leave a message in the comment zone below. We are desired to improve this article with your valuable suggestions.

If you want to explore more features of MiniTool Partition Wizard, you can check the user manual. For any questions, you can contact us via [email protected].

Windows Cannot Verify the Digital Signature FAQ