Focusrite Saffire 6 Usb Driver Windows 10

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Summary/TLDR: I stopped using my Firewire card and switched to a new interface with a USB-C connection. Firewire is now officially dead with Windows 10 20H2. If you are able to downgrade to 1909, workarounds may be possible.

Each time there’s a Windows 10 update my 12 year old Saffire risks becoming obsolete.

The problem? My card uses FireWire; Windows 10 doesn’t support FireWire (IEEE 1394).

Here is what has been working for me so far. With the latest update, I thought my card was a goner. I figured out the fix for the latest windows 10 19041! I spent a few hours today to figure out a new last step involving using device manager installing a the driver 61883.

Steps

This is a mishmash of various FAQs I found online and my own annotations:

Focusrite Saffire 6 Usb Driver Windows 10

Focusrite Saffire 6 Usb Driver Windows 10 64

  • Probably safest to start: Uninstall saffire.exe
  • Install legacy 1394 driver from: https://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=44219 (This link may be expired. Find a reliable source.)
  • Disable driver signature enforcement
    1. Press Alt-I or search windows for advanced startup. Choose PC Settings (in the bottom): Advanced startup – Restart now.
    2. When the computer is rebooting at the blue screen where the startup settings appears, select the 7th bullet “Disable driver signature enforcement” (press 7). There might be an alternative to this by setting your computer in test mode, but advanced startup always works for me.
    3. After the computer has loaded windows, repeat the driver installation process. But this time the Windows Security dialog pops up with a “Windows can’t verify publisher of this driver software” warning. Choose Install the driver software anyway.
    4. Go to: C:Program Files (x86)1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)x64_driver
      1. Right click on Legacy1394.inf and choose install
      2. The driver is installed.
  • Now re-run saffire-2.71.exe installer downloaded from Focusrite. This time the installer will succeed to install the 2 focusrite saffire drivers (with “Windows can’t verify publisher of this driver software” warnings, just choose install anyway). The risk is low if you have downloaded the file from a reliable source (virus scan it just in case).
  • New step November 2020!
    1. This worked for DAW music, but did not give audio output for regular computer use: Go to device manager, you’ll see the drivers aren’t being used. Right click-> update driver, then choose from already installed, and choose 61883->Focusrite->Saffire. The trick here was that I didn’t install drivers for the WDM devices, as these seem to cause the unit to become unresponsive.
    2. [Update mid-November] This worked for DAW music and audio output for regular computer use (after trying the previous method): Go to device manager, you’ll see the drivers aren’t being used. Find the IEEE 1394. Right click-> update driver, then choose from already installed, and choose Sound, video and other controllers ->Focusrite->Saffire.
      1. Not sure if related, but while doing this, I had started a scan via Command Prompt (Admin), and typed: system32>SFC /scannow. It found corrupted files and repaired them.
    3. Update Dec 2020: Installed a fresh Windows 10 pro and x570 motherboard. And.. spent a few hours trying to get the Vantec PCIE firewire card working. My windows wouldn’t boot. Tried playing with multiple bios settings, including 10-bit tag, assigning PCIE versions, CSM… no luck. Hunch that the legacy windows 10 2004 version was better, and that the AMD AGESA is to blame. Time to start audio card shopping 🙁 🙂 🙁 🙂
    4. Update January 2021: Bought a Motu M2. It’s amazing! (the M4 model would be closer to the Saffire i/o)
Usb

Additional things you could try

  • Additional considerations if you have a blue screen of death BSOD on Windows: Disk repair: CHKDSK makeuseof.com/tag/fix-whea-uncorrectable-error-windows-10/
  • Feb 2021:A proposed variation of signature enforcement using bcdedit testsigning (not sure if it would work for windows 10 v2004 base installation, nor with a X570 motherboard):https://en.audiofanzine.com/focusrite/series-saffire/forums/t.10526,focusrite-saffire-firewire-working-with-windows-10-creators-update.html

Files

In case you can’t find them elsewhere, this is a .zip of the files that I’ve been using. It contains:

  • 1394_OHCI_LegacyDriver.msi
  • saffire-2.71.exe

Focusrite Saffire 6 Usb Driver Windows 10 Download Free

Sources:

Focusrite Saffire 6 Usb Manual

  • Deleted thread from Microsoft: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_devices/windows-10-and-ieee-1394-firewire-legacy-drivers/27ae7f1b-c307-4%E2%80%A6