Digital Certificates?

[leannemurphy]

Hi everyone,

What digital certificates are people using? I know Access comes with a personal certificate where you self-cert... is this enough? I do Access databases for 1 client who trust me explicitly, so it's more to keep Microsoft happy when they open my databases. I am also starting to do small business databases for people around me, so don't want any of them struggling to use my databases because their PC is trying to protect them from me! ;-)

What do people on this forum use, and what are the limitations of the self-cert certificate that comes with MS Access?

Thank you!
Leanne

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Take a look at the "Similar Threads" list because a couple of them may be relevant. I see a contribution from Gasman and from kevnaff. The one from ironfelix717 might also be relevant.

 

[leannemurphy]

Thanks @The_Doc_Man, but they aren't really relevant. I just want a digital signature for my databases.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Then search this forum for "Digital Signature" - which you can do using the SEARCH option to the far right of the forum's menu bar at top of screen.

 

[sonic8]

What do people on this forum use, and what are the limitations of the self-cert certificate that comes with MS Access?

Self-Signed-Certificates are only of value in a development environment, or, to a very limited degree, in an environment, where everybody involved can import/trust such certificates manually based on other factors. Beyond this they are worthless.

I'm using a Sectigo Code Signing Certificate (non-EV) purchased through Comodo SSL Store.

Please be aware that Microsoft Access currently does not support code signing at all! However, Microsoft is actively working on fixing this but I'm not aware of a planned release date.

 

[WalterVDG]

I have no experience using a code signing certificate in Access databases, as this functionality did not work for many many years and is currenty und re-implementation (see nolongerset.com/progress-update-code-signing), so I expect it to be buggy. But I used a GoDaddy code signing certificate for years to sign my code in Excel worksheets. I never had any problems with it - so I hope one day Microsoft will release a version with a working code signature in it.

 

[isladogs]

Self certification is only intended for testing purposes and only works on your own workstation.
If you want to use this feature for distributing software, you would need to purchase a code signing certificate.

The feature is now fully implemented in A2016 or later. It was added in version 2212 back in early Jan 2023. There have been further updates to fix some remaining rough edges. It is now bug free

I have been using a Sectigo non-EV code signing certificate for the past 9 years. I purchase through K Software resellers.

As well as helping to protect your code, it also has the advantage that any applications that have a digital signature do NOT have to be unblocked by the end user. They are automatically trusted whether or not they are placed in a trusted location

For more details, see my article:

VBA Project Signing - 1

This article explains how to use the new VBA project signing feature in Access. It also compares the use of this feature with using trusted locations when distributing your Access applications

www.isladogs.co.uk