Why does the Intel® FPGA Download Cable II driver installation fail on Windows* operating system?

Due to the expiration of the digital signature certificate of the Intel® FPGA Download Cable II driver for Windows* operating system, the installation process of the driver may fail.

Follow the next steps to verify if the digital signature certificate of your driver has expired:

1. Go to '<Quartus Installation Path>\qprogrammer\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-ii' folder
2. Right click on 'usbblasterii.cat' and select 'Properties', then select the 'Digital Signatures' tab
3. Select the 'IFDLII Production Key1' signature from the 'Signature List' and click 'Details'
4. Click on 'View Certificate'
5. If the driver has expired, you will see the 'This certificate has expired or is not yet valid' message

To work around this problem, follow the next steps:

1. Download an updated version of the driver from the following link
2. Decompress the downloaded file and substitute 'usb-blaster-ii.inf' and 'usb-blaster-ii.cat' files in '<Quartus Installation Path>\qprogrammer\quartus\drivers\usb-blaster-ii' folder
3. Launch the Windows* 'Device Manager'
4. Locate 'Altera USB-Blaster II (JTAG interface)' node under 'JTAG cables' in the Windows* 'Device Manager', right click and select 'Update Driver'
   
5. Choose ´'Browse my computer for driver software' then click on 'Search for drivers in this location' and point to the new 'usb-blaster-ii.inf' file

This problem is fixed starting with the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pro Edition software version 21.1.