Code signing certificate

c# vb.net code-signing certificate
Icemanind picture Icemanind · Sep 27, 2009 · Viewed 16.8k times · Source

Where can I get a free code signing certificate for signing my applications? Ascertia used to give them out for free but apparently they don't anymore. Mine just expired and I'm looking to get another one? Any ideas?

Answer

James Jones picture James Jones · Sep 27, 2009

It looks like you're looking for a code signing certificate to sign your ClickOnce deployed programs. Use makecert.exe. Since you'll be making an untrusted certificate anyways, put the validity date out 50 years and you won't have to worry about expiring certificates. Also, make sure you include the -pe switch so you can export it out of the certificate store (this creates the .pfx file you're looking for). Include the -r switch because you're self-signing it. So, your command should look something like this:

makecert -r -pe -n "CN=Your Company" -b 01/01/2009 -e 01/01/2050 -ss my

Then, go into Certificate Services:

  1. Run
  2. "mmc"
  3. Add/Remove Snap-in
  4. Double click "Certificates"
  5. OK, OK

Your new certificate should be sitting in the Personal folder. Right click it -> All Tasks -> Export. Make sure to export it WITH the private key. That should give you your .pfx file. Save that in a safe place (off your computer). You don't want to be resigning your applications all the time. There's a bug in VS2005 that is proliferated by resigning your apps.

If you're talking about obtaining a trusted certificate, I am not aware of any root CA's that give them out for free.

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