Wish to keep this thread active. Just a few quick updates. We are still traversing through this employment vetting process. The latest request to show ownership with my contact name for our domain named website. The formal invoice with all of the requested details took a while but has now been submitted to Microsoft. Lorenzo believes this latest document should allow for proper closure in the right direction. Will update this thread upon receiving our latest status with MS.
Hello, any updates? I've signed up in Microsoft's Partner Center 5 days ago And I'm also having issues with Employment Verification despite providing domain ownership proof and a registrar invoice. I've now been blocked for submitting too many times. From what I've heard, it's not permanent, either way I'm not sure I'll be continuing.
Edit: I take back what I said, you must have a verified Microsoft Partner Account yourself to submit drivers
OMG, brother / sister, this process will truly test your patience. We are an OEM hardware design company of 35+ years in the business and have signed many kernel mode drivers with success. This new process is just brutal. We have been actively chasing this new method since January of his year. Our contact at Microsoft is Lorenzo and he has been great to assist. We are almost there and are past the vetting process. Now our Hardware Portal is showing a blank landing page. This is some back cloud issue on their side that is being reviewed. Can only state that you must handle with patience and where and if I can help, will do so. Will continue to update this thread when we can. Let me reply on some of your points in a few..
I'm glad to see you made it through the verification process. How did you get past the Employment Verification step? My company's registrar is squarespace, though the domain was bought from google workspace so the invoice shows proof of payment but not the name of the registrar. My most recent rejection was:
"Hello, Thank you for providing additional documents to our team for account verification. Upon review, we identified that the documents you’ve shared are too old to be considered for account verification. Please provide a document issued within the previous 12 months or where the expiration date is a future date that is at least two months away. Thank you, Vetting Operations Support"
My oldest document provided is the domain renewal invoice itself which is back from November 23rd 2024 which is 7 months ago not over 12 months. I submitted the domain invoice, latest google workspace invoice, company registration details and the WHOIS records on the domain. I still don't understand why it was rejected.
I will ask the person who handled the WHOIS details for our company but recall a few of the specifics:
a) obtain a details invoice for your website hosting that contains the contact details that match the person who is working with MS for this vetting process. So for example, I am the contact for this kernel mode driver submission, my name is also present in the website contact hosting invoice.
b) Suggest to obtain a current invoice for the same. We literally submitted the invoice on the day it was sent to us from the service provider.
c) Be sure the email address is the same across all involved parties used for this vetting process. Be sure the contact name is consistent. This may be due to some AI tool being used on their side for approval. For example, on social media and public records, I go by my middle and last names only. On my passport / legal ID, I have a first name. Originally, I submitted my FIRST and LAST name. Got rejected because very few know my first name. Suspecting that the AI tool had a mismatch here. Even though I am a co-founder of our company, I did not exist in their world.
If it helps, you can ping me for the contact details of our team member who worked on this. I think he can spare a few minutes to chat with you if that helps - while we can recall the full details. BTW - after the employment approval, there will be a Q&A form you must reply to for a list of questions regarding your pending submission. Sensing for security, they ask questions such as - do you own the source code for your driver? Is the driver modified in-house? Are you licensing from a 3rd party? Will the driver be with your company name, etc. Common sense replies here. After this submission, a week later, we were granted the employment approval. Now we are at the actual driver submission status but the landing page is blank. They are working on this internal quirk as of last Friday.
If you can, work with Lorenzo who has been helpful in this painful process.
Thank you mon2, I've already created a new tenant in my name instead of the generic support@domainname.com to pass the email verification step including the identity verification step instantly.
The billing renewal date doesn't change, its a yearly renewal. So its either 2024's renewal bill or this years renewal bill. But that still doesn't explain why it was rejected, its not older than 12 months. As for the driver, I do own it, including the source code, not licensing from a 3rd party.
If you’re comfortable sharing, could you DM me Lorenzo’s details? I’d love to walk through our exact documents with someone who’s been successful. Thanks again for your help.
Hi. Unable to DM you. Send me an email to: support[at]softio[dot]com
Update - we were granted the Hardware Submission status yesterday. Very happy. Started in February and resolved all yesterday.
Now creating a new hardware submission and uploaded the .hlkx file for our Windows 11 package that has been EV signed (Sectigo certificate). All peachy. Uploaded to the portal and have received a passing grade.
Was this step necessary?
Next we need to package up our device driver files into a .cab format and again sign the package for another submission? Asking on what the relationship is with the .hlkx file of the testing and the driver package fileset. Perhaps the MS portal will link the 2 submissions and then attest with their MS signature?
Thanks.
Congratulations!
May be I just didn't have enough patience to go through all this. I'll try again next year.
We're still waiting. MS support told us that there are many partners affected and they're working on a core fix. Crossing my fingers that something happens soon.
You can add your driver package to the HLK submission and then the drivers gets signed when the submission is approved. You do it through HLK Studio.
After you got verified did the Hardware Developer Program actually show up for you under My Access? If so that is very lucky.
Yes. However, our landing page was blank for a few weeks. Not to overburden our contact but Lorenzo was priceless to assist us on this case. Highly recommend to contact Microsoft, perhaps even Lorenzo to help out otherwise you may be hitting their brick firewall. As noted above, there are internal issues with this program. Our company has been designing hardware for over 25 years and we have been pairing up the hardware with our own device drivers for similar time period. Microsoft is one of our many customers yet they wiped out our history and we had to start from scratch. IMHO, they are using AI tools for the vetting process. My first legal name which is demanded by the process does not exist on public forums / social media. This resulted in that I do not exist nor as an employee of the company I started. Silly. This has all been straightened out. Crossing our fingers that the client is still interested in our product. If needed, I believe I may have the contact details for Lorenzo. He is not a bot, he is a live breathing human. Either way, good luck to you and ping back if we can assist in any way.
Yes I have been fully vetted for 5 months now and have been emailing and having phone conversations with actual support members for the Hardware Developer Program for months as well yet my page is still blank. The support keep saying there is a bug that they developers are trying to fix. Sort of hard to imagine that one of the largest and richest companies in the world cant fix a website bug that has existed for a year and half despite numerous external and internal complaints.
But maybe this Lorenzo person has more pull than the person I am talking to what is his contact details?
Lorenzo
Your Partners at Microsoft
Office Hours 9AM-6PM US CT
v-lnarvaez@microsoft.com
FWIW I’m working with Lorenzo and he’s telling me the same, that their devs are still fixing the issue.
After all of this drama. Lost the customer. So pissed with Microsoft and their lack of competence. Such a degrading company. Good luck to you Microsoft and what is left of your company and employees.
Signed a driver today as we are switching from Windows 10 IoT LTSC to Windows 11 IoT LTSC.
Got this message at top of screen.
:Mandatory account verification for Windows Hardware Program partners begins October 16, 2025. Review and update your Legal Info page in Partner Center to ensure your information is current and accurate. Submissions will be blocked if your verification status is rejected. More information is available at https://aka.ms/HDCAccountVerification.”
Maybe something is finally being sorted out.
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