Windows – Win 7 entered Test mode with black screen, almost nothing worked

windows 7

​Upon restarting and logging in, my laptop entered test signing mode with a watermark at the corner that says:

Test Mode
Windows 7
Build 7601

The desktop was black and I could only move the mouse around. None of the below keyboard shortcuts worked except Win-P which brought up the projector/external monitor switching menu.

Ctrl–Alt–Del
Ctrl–Shift–Esc
Win
Win–P *
Win–R
Win–L

While I was preparing this question (on a different device), Windows exited the test signing mode (after about 5 minutes I think) and showed the lock screen (presumably because I had pressed Win–L earlier). I unlocked it and the computer was back to being normal almost normal, except the watermark is still shown on the desktop above the wallpaper.

I read that I have to open Command Prompt and issue the following command to disable this test mode:

bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING OFF

When I checked the current state, indeed the testsigning appears to be turned on:

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence        {8fca152d-a34e-11e2-ab15-606c66041761}
recoveryenabled         Yes
testsigning             Yes                                    <====
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {03ab5fff-8b84-11e2-bdd9-3c970e7a43fb}
nx                      OptIn

Questions:

  • What caused this and what can I do to prevent this in the future?
  • Do I still need to run the above command as recommended by Microsoft?
  • Will it cause any software to stop working? My most recent installs are TeamViewer 9.0.25790, Unlocker 1.9.2, and Adobe AIR 4.0.0.1390.

Best Answer

According to Microsoft this is used to test applications which are not signed with a digital certificate from Microsoft. This includes the program itself and drivers it uses.

If your computer has come out of test mode it is finished what it is doing and you don't need to worry. It shouldn't affect any of your installed programs.

If you wish to stop this from happening I suggest using a FixIt from Microsoft.

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