Install USBASP programmer on Windows 8

I have the following programmer (a chinese clone actually, however it is equivalent):

http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/

I have happily used it on my older WinXP computer, but as that computer has been retired I came across a problem of installing it on Windows 8. The supplied driver is not signed and as such newer versions of windows won’t allow you to install it. We all know that it can be done by disabling the driver signing enforcement (this procedure is also described on USBasp homepage), however that leaves your system vulnerable to outside threats and also adds ugly watermarks in display corners. So I figured there must be another, “proper” way of installing the drivers.

Actually, there are two ways to install the driver on your computer. The more laborious way is to self-sign the driver. Self-signing the driver actually works for any driver, but I would recommend against it if there is a simpler way (I may do a writeup of this procedure at some later time). There is also a super-easy way to install a properly signed libusb driver using the Zadig driver installer. Zadig installs a more recent version of libusb so it may not work with a very outdated version of avrdude. I have only tested it with the latest avrdude version and with latest arduino-packed avrdude version. Both work ok 🙂

And now for the installation instructions:

Your usbasp should not be plugged in.

Download Zadig from http://zadig.akeo.ie/ and run the executable.

When you have the Zadig application running plug in the USBasp programmer.

It should show up in the device list.

Select the USBasp device in dropdown menu.

Choose libusb-win32 (v1.2.6.0) and press Install Driver button.

After a minute or so the driver installation process finishes. Now you can use your programmer even on your brand new Windows 8 computer 🙂