Zboard Merc

THIS FIX DOES NOT REQUIRE PREVENTING WINDOWS UPDATES It solves the problem by renaming the alpham driver associated with the zboard so windows no longer blocks it. It is a permanent solution and leaves your system in its original condition security-wise.

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.


11) Enjoy a working zMerc again!