Other Ways of Installing Certificates

If you don't want to use Powershell to install AllIncontext certificates, you can install any of the P7B files by using the Certificate Import Wizard. Unfortunately, this will only allow you to install the certificates into your CurrentUser stores (not the LocalMachine stores). If you want to open the LocalMachine certificates stores, see this link.

To install the Root Certificate(s) do the following:

1. Right click on the file icon for the first, Root, P7B file (which is on the Desktop), and select the Install Certificate item from the pop-up menu.
2. The Certificate Import Wizard window will open. Click on the Next button. The Certificate Store window will be displayed.
3. Click on the Place all certificates in the following store radio button. Then click the Browse... button.
4. The Select Certificate Store window will be displayed. Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities from the list, then click the OK button to close this window and you are back at the Certification Store window.
5. Click the Next button and the certificate import completion window will be displayed. Click the Finish button to start installing certificates.
6. A Root certificate will result in the display of a Security Warning window. This is normal. The certificate Thumbprint will be shown on that window. It should match the following character string:
   
   
   49 f7 bc 7e fd 6e 25 3a 64 8a f6 c9 ef cf 91 4a 2d 04 43 12
   
   
   Note: The warning window groups four pairs of these characters together and they are shown in uppercase. The pair 7e is the same as 7E. If you look at how the thumbprint is displayed by the certificate you will see it is the same as shown above. If there is more than one Root certificate in the P7B file, you will get a Security Warning for each one.
   
7. Click on the Yes button and you should see the Certificate Import Wizard window displaying The import was successful. Click the OK button to close the wizard.

To install the Intermediate Certificates do the following:

1. For the other P7B file on the Desktop, repeat steps 1. and 2. above.
2. Then accept the default Automatically select the certificate store based on certificate type radio button and continue with step 5. above.
3. No Security Warning window should be displayed, and you should only see the window displaying The import was successful. Click the OK button to close the wizard.

The Root and Intermediate certificates (the Intermediate Certificate Authorities and the Code Signing certificate) should now be installed. You can check by pressing the Windows button on the keyboard (the one with the Windows Logo on it). In Vista and later, type CertMgr.msc into the edit box. You should see an item of this name in the list above the edit box. Click on it to open the Certificates window. On XP, click the Run item and type CertMgr.msc into the edit box and the press the Enter key.

The Certificates window should open. In the left hand pane, click on the + character or the > character to open the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store and then click on Certificates to display the list of Root certificates in the right hand pane. Double click on AllIncontext Root Authority to open the Certificate window. The General tab is displayed by default. You can check the certificate data on the Details tab, and view the certificate chain on the Certification Path tab.

You can repeat this process for the Intermediate Certification Authorities store and the www.allincontext.com certificate, and the Personal store and the www.allincontext.com code signing certificate.

Once these certificates are installed, AllIncontext signed software programs will be trusted as long as the program signature is valid. The validation of a signature is done when you run a program and consists of comparing the signature embedded in the program file and the signature calculated by Windows when you start the program. If these match, the validation is OK and the program will run. If there is a mismatch, either the program has been changed or there is a problem with one or more of the certificates used in the validation. A security warning dialogue will be displayed which will allow you to cancel the running of the program.

Note: Some programs support their own certificate stores, rather than using the Window store (For example, web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, and Mail programs generally). In these cases, you need to follow their specific instructions on how to handle certificates.