Forum Discussion
Windows Hardware Developer Program: how long for the EV cert questionnaire email?
Hello,
I'm in the process of registering my company for the Windows Hardware Developer Program, following this guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/dashboard/hardware-program-register
So far I have completed:
1. Submitted the registration request
2. Uploaded the Extended Validation (EV) code signing certificate from the "Manage certificates" page, as instructed
According to the documentation, I should receive a questionnaire email asking for additional information about my business before the approval review can proceed. However, it has now been about 9 business days (submitted on August 25) since I completed the steps above, and I still haven't received this email - I've also checked the junk/spam folder.
Could someone from the Hardware Dev Center team help clarify:
- The typical turnaround time for this questionnaire email
- Whether there's any way to check the current status of my registration/verification from my side
- What I should do if the email still doesn't arrive
Thank you in advance for any guidance.
1 Reply
Update: I self-resolved this, posting the full sequence in case it helps others hitting the same silence.
After posting here, I contacted Partner Center support directly (their official support site, Category: Enrollment > Enroll as a Developer for Hardware program) rather than waiting further.
It turned out the real blocker wasn't the questionnaire itself - it was that my account was pending identity verification. Microsoft's Vetting Operations team sent an email requiring me to complete identity verification via Microsoft Entra Verified ID: install the Microsoft Authenticator app, prepare a valid government-issued ID, and go through the verification flow (a dedicated verification link was provided separately). Note that Partner Center's own "Verification Summary" page kept returning a "Program Not Found" error throughout this, so don't rely on that page to check status.
Once I completed the identity verification and obtained the Verified ID credential in Authenticator, the actual hardware program enrollment questionnaire email arrived shortly after. That questionnaire is completed through a separate tool called "Publisher Assistant" (an AI-driven screening chat, linked directly from the email - not something you'll find inside Partner Center itself).
After finishing that questionnaire, my enrollment was approved within about a day.
TL;DR: if your questionnaire email seems stuck, check whether your account is actually waiting on identity verification (Microsoft Entra Verified ID via Authenticator) first - that may be the real gate, not the questionnaire delivery itself.
