I’ve been able to at least get back into Partner Center with the help of Microsoft support (I know, shocking!). The trick was to open the issue via Microsoft 365 support as a global admin issue.
If your issue is that you have no global admin (our situation for the onmicrosoft tenant) you will get a call back.
Still don’t have Hardware workspace but I’m hopeful that the problem might be an incomplete company profile. Here’s hoping that completing this triggers a review and finally restores signing ability.
I have created a post on Hacker News about this problem. I will not link to it directly to avoid running afoul of the OSR or HN forums rules, but if you wish to find it search for the topic below and consider upvoting and/or posting your experience.
Tell HN: Microsoft has locked out a bunch of 3rd party Windows driver developers
Microsoft just closed my support request without response after asking me to provide "evidence" that the account was valid, which I did. This is the second time this happens.
This is ridiculous. What is the point of even asking if you are not going to look at it?
I think anyone who was aware of and completed validation before the deadline (Oct ‘25?) would have kept their access.
I finally got to talk to support by presenting it as a login issue and the support person did tell me they’d forward the issue to partner support. That issue was closed and I’ve not heard back.
I did a copilot session and it concluded, after I got 404 for every URL it had me try, that “There is currently no public-facing support from outside Partner Center for Hardware Program access issues” and “Microsoft has fully retired the old Hardware Dev Center support URLs AND the new Learn-based support URLs”
The only suggestion co-pilot made is to open an issue somewhere else (i.e. account verification) with the descriptive text: “This request is not about verification. … Please forward this ticket to the Windows Hardware Program support team”.
But I think that’s what we’ve been doing and either the issues aren’t actually getting forwarded or no one is picking them up.
Here is the exact text that Copilot recommends to try to raise an issue through the validation topic (though that’s not it, it’s one of the only topics that gets human triage):
This issue is being incorrectly routed to the automated self-help workflow.
The system assumes this is a standard troubleshooting topic, which triggers the
‘no further support is available’ message.
This is not a self-help issue. It requires manual review and must be routed to
the Partner Center Hardware Program Operations team, as only they can restore
Hardware Workspace access.
Please override the automated routing and escalate this ticket to a human reviewer.
Managed to get a service request in at least. Likely to be closed or rejected IMO. However we will take it from that point as it took a ridiculous amount of effort to get that far.
The authors of Veracrypt and Wireguard were apparently stuck with the same situation and their posts went somewhat viral on X today. It was enough to get a VPs attention and he acknowledged the existence of this conversation as well (can’t include the URL unfortunately; see Scott Hanselman on X).
In fact, our account was also suspended, with a “hardware suspended” notice. When we contacted their support, they repeatedly claimed that our driver contains malware or poses a risk. They said that if we can prove it doesn’t contain any risk, we should ask AI. However, no matter how we explain— even offering to provide our source code and cooperate with a review—they still redirect us to “Ask Copilot” and then rudely close the case.
We've been shipping drivers since the NT days and this is the first time Microsoft has shut the door and killed off third party Windows software. I have to assume that the parties involved in making this decision either had no concept of the chaos it would cause to the ecosystem or simply didn't care. Not entirely sure which one is worse.
I get the desire to verify the identity submitting the drivers for signing. I also get the desire to re-verify identities periodically. But to just arbitrarily REVOKE the ability to sign drivers, thus leading to a company suddenly no longer being able to support Windows as a platform, is a fucking travesty.
We've been monitoring this situation and been hearing from clients for (literally) years about problems with dashboard access. But, it had thus far been pretty abstract for us so didn't have any special insight: we went through the re-verification process in January (including providing IDs to the shoddy verification company, which is a whole other story...), had our access accepted within 24 hours or so, and were blissfully back to signing drivers. Until last week that is, when our access was revoked entirely without notice. After a week of delayed responses from various support organizations we finally got this today:
This account has been suspended due to non-compliance with the hardware program. All partners are required to accept our current agreements and complete Account Verification successfully to be compliant. If you believe your account was suspended in error or can demonstrate your account is compliant, please provide evidence. We will review your appeal request and provide a decision on it, which decision result is determined in our soles (sic) discretion. Microsoft will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify you of the outcome within approximately 60 days of receiving the evidence. If the appeal is successful, you must resolve all compliance issues, including the successful completion of Account Verification, prior to gaining access to HDC.
Wishing you the best ahead!
No idea what we're supposed to do with this. There's no description of what "evidence" is necessary, where to report it, why what we did in January is no longer sufficient, or how to escalate so our clients don't have wait 60 days to find out if we're blessed again or not.
We're going to ramp up trying to get this resolved and to try to get SOME kind of guidance to provide folks to what to expect. I'll update once we know something. In the meantime we'll be wishing you all "the best ahead".
If OSR has been suspended and can’t get traction, then there is no hope for the rest of us. They are the most well-informed and well-connected group in the business. It’s supposed to be a partnership, not a litigation.
This is why all of the telemetry projects I did in the last 15 years were on Linux. I retired at the right time.
At first I thought we messed up and mismanaged our account somehow. But at this point, it's clear that the mismanagement is on Microsoft's side, and they simply don't care.
Hopefully, and I say that very carefully indeed, this is beginning to gain some traction at Microsoft.
“Pavan Davuluri, Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices at Microsoft, assures that the company is actively working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.
“We’ve reached out to VeraCrypt and have spoken to Jason at WireGuard – they should be back up and running soon,” Davuluri posted on X.”
Latest update here is that we were successful in getting our dashboard account re-instated as of last night.
We’re trying to get info on what folks should do to expedite getting out of this limbo. Will update once we have any information.
In the meantime I’d say make sure you have an active support ticket ID. Also probably worth sending an escalatory update to your ticket with links to the various sites documenting the issue. I literally have no idea if this will do anything, but I can say that the issue has sufficient visibility right now that it’s worth trying.
Hmm in our case, from the Partner Center Dashboard→AI assistant→Contact support
I cannot submit a ticket. I cannot select a “Workspace” which is mandatory to go on..
Also if I select “Home→Help+Support” I’m not able to Add a support request.
Here I’m also forwarded to: “To get help, select the AI assistant icon” …
Is this similar on your side (asking everyone here)?
How did you submit this first ticket which someone needs to get further support?
Right now I just see the possibility to buy an official support ticket for $299.- or if I want to get support immediately for ~$600.- from out side the Partner Center!?
