Signtool error: No certificates were found that met all given criteria with a Windows Store App?

Question

I'm trying to sign a Windows 8 appx package with a pfx file I have. I'm using a command like so:

signtool.exe sign /fd sha256 /f "key.pfx" "app.appx"

And from this, I get:

SignTool Error: No certificates were found that met all the given criteria.

What "criteria" am I not meeting? This is only for testing so these are self-signed certificates. I've tried importing the key and then signing it, but it always results in the same error. How do I fix this?

Answer 1

When getting this error through Visual Studio it was because there was a signing certificate setup to match the computer it was originally developed on.

You can check this by going to the project properties > signing tab and checking the certificate details.

You can uncheck "Sign the ClickOnce manifests" to disable signing.

If you don't want to turn this option off you will have to install the certificate.

Answer 2

Try with /debug.^1,2 As in :

signtool sign /debug /f mypfxfile.pfx /p <password> (mydllexectuable).exe

It will help you find out what is going on. You should get output like this:

The following certificates were considered:
    Issued to: <issuer>
    Issued by: <certificate authority> Class 2 Primary Intermediate Server CA
    Expires:   Sun Mar 01 14:18:23 2015
    SHA1 hash: DD0000000000000000000000000000000000D93E

    Issued to: <certificate authority> Certification Authority
    Issued by: <certificate authority> Certification Authority
    Expires:   Wed Sep 17 12:46:36 2036
    SHA1 hash: 3E0000000000000000000000000000000000000F

After EKU filter, 2 certs were left.
After expiry filter, 2 certs were left.
After Private Key filter, 0 certs were left.
SignTool Error: No certificates were found that met all the given criteria.

You can see what filter is causing your certificate to not work, or if no certificates were considered.

I changed the hashes and other info, but you should get the idea. Hope this helps.

---

¹_{Please note: signtool is particular about where the /debug option is placed. It needs to go after the sign statement.}
²_{Also note: the /debug option only works with some versions of signtool. The WDK version has the option, whereas the Windows SDK version does not.}

Answer 3

I got the same problem in my console application development and as a quick workaround,

go to project properties then,

click on signing tab and uncheck "Sign the ClickOnce Manifest".

Image Description:

FYI You can also see this less one minute video solution. The above picture is taken form the video.

Answer 4

Please always check your certificate expiry date first because most of the certificates have an expiry date. In my case certificate has expired and I was trying to build project.

Answer 5

If you do not have to sign the app, right click on your project

Project Properties -> Signing -> uncheck "Sign the ClickOnce Manifest"

Also as this MS article suggests,

If you are using Visual Studio 2008 and are targeting .NET 3.5 and using automatic updates, you can just change the certificate and deploy a new version,

Answer 6

In my case I have the wrong type of certificate that I am trying to associate.
I had "Server Authentication" rather than "Code signing".
You should be able to see this in Certificate snap in the Intended Purpose section.
After that, it just work fine.

Answer 7

just uncheck the 'Sign the click once manifests' from the signing tab in project properties,it will remove the error and you can create a new one as from there.

Answer 8

Got the same issue, turned out that the private key to the certificate had no permission.
To fix - open the certifacte management, find your certificate, right click -> Manage Private Keys and then in security on top be sure that your user is added and given permissions, that fixed it for me.

Answer 9

In case anyone else runs into this: My problem ended up being that I needed to run the command prompt as administrator before using the signtool.exe app. Then everything works wonderfully.

Answer 10

I solved this by using the /sm flag to specify to look in the machine store instead of the default, which is My (Local User) store. Also, it can help to turn on debug for signtool by using /debug.

Answer 11

I had this problem and I'm not entirely sure which step below made it work, but hope this helps somebody else...this is what I did:

• Install the downloaded certificate (.crt) into certificates (I put it into “personal” store) - right click on .crt file and click Install Certificate.
• Run certmgr.msc and export the certificate (found in whichever store you used in the 1st step) as a pfx file including private key and extended properties
• Use the exported .pfx file when signing your project
• Example signtool: signtool sign /f "c:\mycert.pfx" /p mypassword /d "description" /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll $(TargetPath)
  where the password is the same as provided during Export

Answer 12

I'm having the same problem, reading some answers (posted here), I saw my certificate expired.

Just create a new one from my start project. Then at certificates manager deleted the expired certificate.

Now everything compiles fine.

Answer 13

The criteria include account name (whose private key it is associated with), domain, company, expiration date, intended purposes, among other things.

There are many different possible reasons for this error to occur, some have been listed already. Here is another tip: When importing a certificate, be sure you work with the original file received from the certificate authority (CA), or else some of the properties might be lost.

Example: recently I tried to import a certificate exported from a different account on the same machine. The certificate became visible to my account but was not associated with my account, and as a result signtool refused to recognize it without explicitly providing the file name and a password. Which, when done as part of the build process and written out explicitly in a batch file or source file, may not be sufficiently secure. (Importing the original CA-issued certificate solved it.)

Answer 14

I had the same "After Private Key filter, 0 certs were left" message and spent too much of my life trying to figure out what the message meant.

The problem was that I had installed the certificate incorrectly in the Windows Certificate store so there was no private key associated with the code signing certificate.

What I should have done was this:

1. Using either Firefox or Internet Explorer, submit the request to the issuer. This generates a PRIVATE KEY which is stored silently by the browser (a dialog appears for a fraction of a second in Firefox). Note that other browsers may not work: your life is too short to find out if they do.

2. Submit the request, jump through the issuer's validation hoops and loops, sacrifice a goat, pray to the gods, submit a signed statement from your great grandparents, etc.

3. Download the certificate (.crt) and import it into the same browser. The browser now has both the private key and the certificate.

4. Export the certificate from the browser as a Personal Information Exchange (.p12) file. You will be asked to supply a password to protect this file.

5. Keep a backup copy of the .p12 file.

6. Run the Certificate Manager (certmgr.msc), right click on the Personal certificate store, select All Tasks/Import... and import the .p12 file into Windows. You will be asked for the password you used to protect the file. At this point, depending upon your security requirements, you can mark the key as exportable so you can restore a copy from the Windows store. You can also mark that a password is required before use if you want to break batch scripts.

7. Run signtool successfully, breathe a sigh of relief, and ponder how much of your life you have wasted due to bad error messages and poor or missing documentation.

Answer 15

My problem ended up being that I did not understand the signtool options. I had provided the /n option with something that did not match my certificate. When I removed that it stopped complaining.

Answer 16

I have had this issue too, tried a lot. Used SDK as well as Visual Studio signing, but everywhere I got "No certificates were found that met all the given criteria".

Solution: Be aware that, if "after private key filter": '0 left' shows up with option signtool sign /debug..., the cause is your PC doesn't has the CA itself in the store. To solve this, install the CA first (in my case a .crt file), then run the sign again. It should work right now!

Signtool only can be used with a CA which is requested ánd owned by the same PC.

Answer 17

I had a similar problem my computer name had change and the certificate had expired. I was able to resolve this issue by creating a new test certificate.

In Visual Studio, right click on project in solution explorer. Select properties. Select Signing in properties window. Click "Create Test Certificate....". Enter password information for test certificate and click ok.

Answer 18

With /debug, when you get this message "After Private Key filter, 0 certs were left.", one reason could be that the pfx file doesn't have the private key. When you export the installed certificate to pfx file ensure to enable the check box to also include the private key.

Answer 19

Go to project properties and uncheck all fields from the Firm before init the compilation