SP2 & Self signed Digital Certificate

[Bill James]

Recently updated to Office 2003 SP2. Wondering if anyone is experiencing
problems with self signed digital certificates. Excel says:

"There was a problem with the digital certification. The VBA project could
not be signed. The signature will be discarded."

Symptoms:
If I create a new workbook and add a simple sub Excel does not complain.
Example:

sub test
debug.print "hello, world!"
end sub

But if I add some additional code Excel complains and I cannot save the
signature...

 

[R. Choate]

I could be wrong, but I don't think the self certifying thing is of much value at all. If you are trying to give some assurance to
recipients, then it will depend on their security settings and so forth. Excel is not very secure anyway. If people don't want to
risk something bad happening when they open an Excel file, all they have to do is turn off all VBA code before they open a file.
Then they could open the VBE and see if there is anything they don't like. Don't go grey over this; it probably isn't worth it IMHO

HTH
--
RMC,CPA


Recently updated to Office 2003 SP2. Wondering if anyone is experiencing
problems with self signed digital certificates. Excel says:

"There was a problem with the digital certification. The VBA project could
not be signed. The signature will be discarded."

Symptoms:
If I create a new workbook and add a simple sub Excel does not complain.
Example:

sub test
debug.print "hello, world!"
end sub

But if I add some additional code Excel complains and I cannot save the
signature...

 

[Bill James]

The digital certificate is not intended for security, Office 2003 "out of
the box" has macro security set to "High". When distributing the
spreadsheet to other users, on computers where my certificate is installed,
it bypasses the macro security warning messages without having to lower the
macro security settings...

So, now you know why and how we use the digital certificate, anyone else
experiencing this problem?

 

[Nick Hebb]

I don't have an answer to your question. In fact, I know very little
about certificates, but I'm trying to learn. So, I'm curious about the
order of events in case I ever encounter it. Are the order of events as
follows?:

1. Create workbook
2. Add code
3. Add certificate
4. Modify code
5. Attempt to save and get error.

Again, I'm no expert, but here's a few questions to stir the
troubleshooting pot:

Q1: Was the digital certificate created under SP1, or have you created
a new one under SP2?

Q2: Did you try removing the certificate in the VBE then adding it back
in?

Q3: Have you tried going into IE, deleting the existing certifcate to
get it off your system (in case it's corrupt) then creating a new one.

Q4: Are you tired of all these questions?

 

[Bill James]

Q1: Certificate was created pre SP1

Q2: Tried many combinations.

Q3: Don't want to delete the existing certificate as it has been used to
"sign" many office applications which require VBA. If I delete it, then I
will have to manage more than one certificate. Also, will have to install
new certification on systems where new VBA projects are distributed, etc...

Also all previous Office applications that had been signed still open
without warning messages.

Q4: What I'm really after is feedback from someone else who has SP2 and a
self signed digital certificate and attempt to sign an Excel file with VBA
code with that certificate. If they get the same error message.