Remote debugging Tools Cannot Install on Surface RT Running 8.1 Preview (cannot verify digital signature)

Question

I am trying to install Remote Tools on a Surface RT running Windows 8.1 preview. I downloaded update 2 of remote tools from Microsoft's site and when I try to run it I get the error:

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source.

This is confusing because I downloaded the file directly from MS website and when I look at the .exe properties it says digital signatures by Microsoft Corporation.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Update: It seems like my Microsoft Root Authority certificate is "not valid for the selected purposes" I've tried exporting a "good" certificate from another machine and importing it into the Surface machine but it still gives the same issue.

Answer 1

This is because your downloading the 2012 tools. You can download the 2013 preview tools here at the following link! (Be sure to choose ARM)

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40781

Would have been nice if Microsoft had given us a heads up.

Answer 2

Also, when I go to the 2013 download on my Surface RT running 8.1 preview, and I click on Download, no matter which option I pick (x86, x64, or ARM) it downloads the x86 version, which obviously won't work. I had to download it on a PC and copy it over using a USB drive.

Answer 3

This problem exists on the released version of 8.1 too. If you previously had the vs2012 tools installed, they appear to be uninstalled during the upgrade.

Attempting to reinstall gives the above error.

That means, it's now impossible to connect to the 8.1 Surface RT from VS2012 Pro to debug an 8.0 app running on 8.1. Instead, you need to connect with the VS2013 tools and remote debugger.

Answer 4

For anyone who is just trying to test their App updates a surface device running Windows 8.1 RTM, I have at least found a workaround.

You can manually deploy your package to your device by coping the package content to a USB memory stick and running a already defined powershell deployment script.

Basically you need to run the normal package creation process you would do to deploy to the app store to create a package, then copy the contents of the package folder (Not the compress package itself) to your USB stick. There should be a file named Add-AppDevPackage.ps1 in this folder.

Open your USB device from your Surface RT system, right click the Add-AppDevPackage.ps1 file and select "Run with powershell". You will receive several confirmation prompts at the command line and a popup window prompting you to run with admin privileges.

This is by no means a convenient or speedy process but it worked for my purposes.

This link has more detailed information on manually deploying your app package.