Windows 10: Merc Stealth Keyboard Issue still?

WHY ARE WE MERC STEALTH KEYBOARD OWNERS BEING PUSHED TO BUY A NEW KEYBOARD?Finally I had to update my Win 10 1709 PC to 22H2 update....Disgusted to see I had to rewrite my Merc Stealth keyboard drivers all over again and enable unsigned driver install yet again to get functionality back to my beloved keyboard.Why is the Alpham164.sys file still not trusted?It is not like the file is spyware or has a virus ....It is just a keyboard driver that worked flawlessly in Windows 7 and up to Windows 10 1709!From then onwards it has been classed as not trusted and throws code 10 Simple question........

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Merc Stealth Keyboard Issue still?

WHY ARE WE MERC STEALTH KEYBOARD OWNERS BEING PUSHED TO BUY A NEW KEYBOARD?

Finally I had to update my Win 10 1709 PC to 22H2 update....Disgusted to see I had to rewrite my Merc Stealth keyboard drivers all over again and enable unsigned driver install yet again to get functionality back to my beloved keyboard.

Why is the Alpham164.sys file still not trusted?

It is not like the file is spyware or has a virus ....It is just a keyboard driver that worked flawlessly in Windows 7 and up to Windows 10 1709!

From then onwards it has been classed as not trusted and throws code 10

Simple question........WHY????

Yes I knew how to re-write the driver, yes I know how to install an unsigned driver and yes I have a fully functioning keyboard again, however not all my fellow Merc Stealth owners know how to do this so I feel I need to ask the question on their behalf.

Why has Microsoft disabled this driver with no reason given?

Doesn't make sense, not back in 2018 and not now either.

If anyone comes across this thread the old method still works ok

0) If you don't already have ZEngine installed, you can get it here all the way at the bottom under ZEngine.

1) In your D:\Program Files\Ideazon\ZEngine copy the Kernel2k directory to preserve an original untampered version.

2) In the Kernel2K dir, rename every file that starts with Alpham or alpham to something else (ex. Alpham1.sys => Merc1.sys).

3) Open the renamed .inf file in a text editor (Notepad++, etc) and do a similar find and replace on "Alpham" replacing with "Merc" (or whatever you used), replace all. (some people have reported needing to run their text editor as an administrator)

NOTE: Some people have reported being able to skip steps 4-7. You can try jumping from here directly to step 8. If it doesn't work for you, come back and start at step 4 again.

4) Delete merc12.cat (the security catalog file)

5) Install Windows Driver Kit ( it's going to give you a number of warnings during install that you won't be able to develop drivers since you don't have an IDE installed. Just OK through them... you're not developing a driver)

6) Add the inf2cat.exe installation directory to your PATH variables (Type path in search and select "Edit environment variables for your account" then select Path in the top window and click edit. Click new then add the directory of your inf2cat.exe file. Mine was in D:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86. Hit enter, then OK all open windows.)

7) Generate a new .cat file (open a Command Prompt and type: inf2cat/driver:"path" /os:10_X64,10_X86 where "path" is the directory of merc.inf. So, for me it was inf2cat /driver:"D:\Program Files\Ideazon\ZEngine\Kernel2k" /os:10_X64,10_X86)

8) Disable Signed Driver Enforcement (step-by-step instructions)

9) In Device Manager locate the entries "Ideazon Merc MM USB Human Interface Device" and "Ideazon Merc USB Human Interface Device" (most likely under Human Interface Devices)

10) Right click > update driver > browse computer > Let me pick > Have Disk > Browse > manually select your newly renamed merc.inf. Acknowledge any unsigned driver warnings.

Under Device Manager expand Human Interface Devices ( Expand Keyboards you will only see HID Keyboard Device )

Here you will be looking for 3 entries

Ideazon Merc Stealth MM USB Human Interface Device

Ideazon Merc Stealth USB Human Interface Device

Ideazon Merc USB Human Interface Device ( This may be labelled HID-compliant vendor-defined device, mine was )

The last one is where you will find the issue Alpham164.sys

Good Luck my fellow Keyboard warriors, I will check back here twice a month for the next year if anyone needs help.

Microsoft! Shame on you!

 

KB4032188 causing problems with Merc Stealth keyboard

After updating to KB4032188 my software(Ideazon Engine) for Merc Stealth keyboard stopped working and would no longer link to the keyboard. I removed the update and everything is working fine again. So there is something wrong with this update that needs
to be fixed.

 

SteelSeries Merc Stealth Keyboard and Windows Update

On a whim I took my Merc Stealth and plugged it in to my Ubuntu linux server... lo and behold, the gaming pad works just fine. So obviously generic keyboard drivers will leave the gaming pad functional. So how does one go about telling Windows that!?!

-M