Manual installation on ARM64

Manual ARM64 builds of HidHide are provided for advanced users who need to deploy the driver on devices where the standard x64 MSI installer does not work (e.g., Windows on ARM laptops or single-board PCs). This guide walks you through installing the driver and configuration client without the MSI.

Warning

These steps are intended for Windows on ARM64 systems. Installing the ARM64 package on x86 or x64 editions of Windows will fail.

Prerequisites

Administrator account on Windows 10/11 ARM64.
Latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for ARM64 (required for the configuration client).
Ability to extract a .zip archive.

Download the ARM64 package

Download the ARM64 manual installation archive directly: HidHide_ARM64.zip. This archive contains only the driver and its catalog/INF files.
Unblock the archive if Windows marks it as downloaded from the internet (Right-click → Properties → Unblock → OK).
Extract the archive to a folder you can access easily (e.g., C:\Temp\HidHide_ARM64). Extraction creates a folder HidHide_ARM64 containing HidHide.inf, HidHide.sys, HidHide.cat, and LICENSE.rtf.

Install the driver with `nefcon`

nefcon is the preferred way to stage and install drivers from an .inf file. It is not bundled with Windows, so you need to download it first:

Download the latest Windows release ZIP from the nefcon repository.
Extract the ZIP and copy nefcon.exe to a folder in your user profile (for example, C:\Tools\nefcon).
(Optional) Add that folder to your PATH so you can run nefcon from any directory:
```
setx PATH "$Env:PATH;C:\Tools\nefcon\ARM64"
```
Open Windows Terminal or PowerShell as Administrator.
Change into the extracted driver folder (e.g., C:\Temp\HidHide_ARM64\HidHide_ARM64). The folder must contain HidHide.inf alongside HidHide.sys and HidHide.cat.
Run the following command to add and install the driver via nefcon (if you did not add it to PATH, use the full path to nefcon.exe):
```
nefconc install HidHide.inf root\HidHide
```
Wait for Driver package added successfully and Driver package installed on device(s) in the output. If you see signature warnings, verify that Secure Boot is enabled and that you downloaded the official release archive.
Reboot Windows to make sure the filter driver is active for HID and XInput devices.

Add class filters

With the driver staged, attach the HidHide filter to the relevant device classes using nefconc:

# HIDClass
nefconc --add-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid 745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
# GUID_DEVCLASS_XNACOMPOSITE
nefconc --add-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid d61ca365-5af4-4486-998b-9db4734c6ca3
# GUID_DEVCLASS_XBOXCOMPOSITE
nefconc --add-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid 05f5cfe2-4733-4950-a6bb-07aad01a3a84

Install the configuration client

The driver archive does not include the graphical or CLI configuration clients. Download the pre-built ARM64 client binaries from the latest build pipeline:

HidHide ARM64 client (GUI/CLI) binaries

After downloading, extract the archive and copy the client files to a location of your choice (e.g., C:\Program Files\HidHide). Then create a Start menu shortcut if desired. Launch HidHideClient.exe to manage hidden devices and application whitelists.

Tip

If the client fails to start, install the ARM64 VC++ Redistributable and try again.

Updating to a newer version

Download and extract the latest ARM64 manual archive as above.
Re-run the nefconc install HidHide.inf root\HidHide command from the new folder. This will stage and apply the updated driver.
Replace the configuration client files with the versions from the new archive.
Reboot Windows.

Uninstalling the manual installation

Open an elevated PowerShell window.

Remove the driver package and its devices:

nefconc --remove-device-node --hardware-id root\HidHide --class-guid 4D36E97D-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318

Remove the class filters that were added during installation:

# HIDClass
nefconc --remove-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid 745a17a0-74d3-11d0-b6fe-00a0c90f57da
# GUID_DEVCLASS_XNACOMPOSITE
nefconc --remove-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid d61ca365-5af4-4486-998b-9db4734c6ca3
# GUID_DEVCLASS_XBOXCOMPOSITE
nefconc --remove-class-filter --position upper --service-name HidHide --class-guid 05f5cfe2-4733-4950-a6bb-07aad01a3a84

Delete the configuration client files you copied earlier.
Reboot Windows to remove the filter from device stacks.

Important

Do not mix the manual ARM64 installation with the standard x64 MSI setup on the same system. Stick to one installation method to avoid driver duplication.