Haven’t used my old 300D in ages. So when it got to getting the photos off the camera it refused to work on windows 7 (64bit RC in case that makes a difference). No Canon drivers available, everyone just saying “buy card reader”. No, you don’t need a card reader, they are nice and fast, but it is possible without one.

If your camera has a PTP mode this will probably work for you too.

How to get your photos off an old Canon camera with Windows 7:

On your camera set Communication to PTP in the menu.

Plug your camera’s data cable in and switch it on. Windows should try and install drivers, which failed in my case. If it works for you, be happy and on your way if not continue on with the next step.

Start > type in “cmd”
Right click on cmd application top of the list and select run as administrator.

Type in these two commands:

bcdedit.exe -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING ON

No thats not a typo on the DDISABLE. Reboot your pc.

This disables driver blocking and allows the installation of unsigned drivers. Plug in your camera and switch it on. Windows should install the Picture Transfer Protocol drivers now, and you should be able to access the memory card just like a usb drive. Sadly the Canon control software wont work though.