Thanks for putting effort into this man, appreciate it!

Interesting btw: when I try to use the ASUS inf file to install the driver though "update driver" the server crashes. That doesnt happen with any of the other inf's

That, is weird! There are several threads buried on this forum on editing MSI installers to circumvent version info that might help, but you'll have to search/dig... This is a wierd one on me... ASUS does tend to do a lot of it's own propritary thing with the chips it licenses from others, but Realtek audio is about as generic as it gets -- I'm a bit surprised this is such a hoop-dance. That said, if you get to the bottome of it, I thin the reveal should be very interersting.

Try this. Worth a shot if it works. Open up Group Policy Editor. (gpedit.msc)

Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Driver Installation > Code signing for device drivers

Change the setting to enabled.

Below that change "When Windows detects a driver file etc..." to ignore.

Now open command prompt and run gpupdate /force

Now go into device manager, locate your sound driver, right-click and choose "Update Driver Software". Navigate to your INF, and see if it will install it.