WHQL which abbreviation is Windows Hardware Quality Labs and it’s also known as Microsoft Testing Operation. WHQL is planned to show to Microsoft, and ultimately to users, that certain software or hardware item will work adequately using the Windows operating system.
The manufacturer uses a “Certified for Windows” logo on their packaging of the product and is publicizing. When their products either software or hardware has passed Windows Hardware Quality Labs Test. A Certified for Windows logo is used and users can plainly see that the product has been tested to merits which set by Microsoft, and is therefore suited with which Windows’s version you’re running. Products are included Compatibility List of Windows Hardware which has the Windows Hardware Quality Labs logo.
WHQL Drivers:
In extension to software and hardware, device drivers also usually tested and Windows Hardware Quality Labs verified by Microsoft. You’ll apparently find the WHQL term most frequent when you’re working with drivers. If a driver hasn’t been Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) verified you can still consider to install it, but a warning message will tell you about the driver’s lack of certification before the installation. WHQL verified drivers don’t show a message at all.
A Windows Hardware Quality Labs warning may read something like “The software you are installing has not passed Windows Logo testing to check its compatibility with Windows” or “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software”.
Dissimilar versions of Windows deal this a bit differently.
Windows XP always follows this rule of Unsigned drivers, I mean a warning will be shown if the driver not able to pass the Windows Hardware Quality Labs Test.
New Version of Windows and old version of Windows Vista also need to follow this kind of order, but with one exception which is that if the Signs their own driver then they don’t show a warning message. In simple words, there is no warning will show even if a driver has not gone through Windows Hardware Quality Labs. Moreover, the company is issuing the driver has added a digital signature, confirming its origin and legitimacy.
In the condition like that, even though you won’t see a cautioning, the driver wouldn’t be competent to use a “Certified for Windows” logo. OR They can also consider that on their download page because that Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification has not happened.
How to find and Install WHQL Drivers:
Few WHQL drivers accommodated through Update of Windows, but surely not all of them. Users can stay up to date regarding the release of the updated version of WHQL driver from NVIDIA Drivers‘s official website which is big manufacturers, ASUS, and others on our Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 drivers pages. Driver Booster which is a perfect example of free driver updating tool can only show you those drivers updates which has passed the Tests of WHQL to check in which way update drivers getting additional information on installation of drivers.
WHQL:
Not all drivers and hardware are the need to going to run via Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). It actually means that Microsoft can’t be actual that it will work with their OS, not that it assured won’t work at all. In usual, if you know you are downloading a driver through the hardware maker’s authorized website or from a reliable download source. You can be logically confident that it shall work if they declare that it appears so in your version of Windows. A lot of companies issue beta Software drivers to examiners previous to WHQL certifications or in-house digital signing. It means to say that a lot of drivers must pass a testing stage that permits the company assuredly inform the customer that their drivers will work according to the expectation.
You can get knowledge more regarding hardware certification, along with the essentialities and procedures to perceive it going, at Microsoft’s Hardware Device Center.
Bottom Line:
Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing or WHQL Testing is Microsoft‘s testing method which requires running a series of tests on third-party hardware or software, and then submitting the log files from these tests to Microsoft for review. The process may also add Microsoft running their own tests on a wide range of apparatus. Such as different hardware and different Microsoft Windows editions.
