HCK/HLK Testing Burden

This seems like something I should know, but it’s been many years since
I actually did WHQL testing.

I think we all know that I have to use HCK to get WHQL signature for
Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, and I have to use HLK to get a WHQL signature for
Windows 10.

For HCK, if I want the CAT file to mention 7, 8, and 8.1, am I actually
required to submit test logs from all three systems?  If I submit a log
from 8.1 only, can request a signature for the older systems?  Can I
request a 32-bit signature if I have not submitted logs from a 32-bit
system?

For HLK, the INF2CAT does not distinguish between the versions of Win
10.  Do I just choose an arbitrary Win 10 version and test against that?


Tim Roberts, xxxxx@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

>For HCK, if I want the CAT file to mention 7, 8, and 8.1, am I actually required to submit test logs

from all three systems? If I submit a log from 8.1 only, can request a signature for the older
systems?

As a slight variation: What if I just sign for Windows 7? Newer versions of Windows will happily install drivers that targeted older versions of Windows. What does checking the boxes for all OSes get us that simply WHQL (or WHCP, or whatever they are calling it these days) signing for the oldest supported OS does not?

Hmmmm… I’m not sure. I *do* know that traditionally during the roll-out of a given version of Windows, there’s often a “Special” (they don’t call it that, but it seems like a Special Limited Time Offer type of promotion to me) where MSFT says “If you run THIS version of the HLK/HCK, we’ll give you a signature for a whole pile of down-level platforms FREE!”

When we WHQL sign, I’m PRETTY sure we just sign for one platform. I’ll ask our test folks to see if they remember. We haven’t done it in a while because we’ve been attestation signing everything recently.

Peter
OSR