VBA... I installed digital signing certificate but get error “No usable signing certificates" when signing

Are you sure the certificate is stored in "Personal" and not e.g. in "other People"?

Hi, John. It was installed in Trusted Publishers. I allowed the installation procedure to find the correct store. But using an MMC console, I just now moved it to Personal and tried it. No joy. Same error message. 

I read others were having this issue but did not see a solution. My machine is Win7. I'm about to try it on a newer platform to see if there's any difference.

We have no problem in Office 365.

When I downloaded the cert with Chrome the installation did not work correctly I had to use Firefox.

John's correct (and having the cert appear in Trusted Publishers means that software signed with this cert will be trusted, but not that the cert is properly installed for signing code).

Here are some notes I made when installing my cert:

Rightclick the certificate file
    Note, this may also be renamed to PFX extension if desired

Choose INSTALL from the pop-up menu

Click NEXT at the WELCOME dialog

Verify that the correct file is highlighted in the File To Import dialog, click NEXT

In the Password dialog box:
    Type the password
    There should be no checkmark next to "Enable strong private key protection"
    Put a checkmark next to "Mark this key as exportable" (This'll allow moving the key to other PCs if need be)
    Put a checkmark next to "Include all extended properties"
    Click NEXT

In the Certificate Store dialog box, choose "Automatically select ..." and click NEXT

A summary dialog box appears.  Click FINISH.

If all's well, you'll see a success message.

Hi, Steve!

The certificate came to me from my client as a zip file with a .CER file in it. Ever heard of it? It wasn't a PFX, which is what I'm accustomed to. Right clicking on it to INSTALL CERTIFICATE starts the installation process directly into the certificate import wizard. If I choose AUTOMATICALLY SELECT THE STORE... , it places it into TRUSTED PUBLISHERS. I just now tried again where I pick the store as PERSONAL. Again, it displays the SUCCESSFUL message, but when I try to choose the cert from the VBE, I get the same error message that it cannot find a cert. In a bit, I'll try it on another machine (but of course I need it on THIS machine because it's my DEV computer.)

Good to hear from you again.

Isn't a .CER file for signing SSL websites? (I'm not an expert BTW)

Jeez, I hope not. LOL. My client and I have been back and forth on that issue. They originally sent me SSL certs but finally got with Symantec to get the correct one for code signing VBA. See if the properties look right to you in the pic.

But to your point, I've never been sent a .CER file. It was always a PFX with a password. Maybe that's the issue? It DOES "install" but perhaps it's missing something to validate it because it's a .CER file?

I just tried it on another Win7 (64 bit) machine with PPT2016 and got the same bad response.

But now I find this below... Agh!!

Everywhere I read, a .CER file IS, in fact, for SSL web work. So, maybe, the properties read that it's a code signing certificate (the same as the past VBA certificate used that expired), BUT it's maybe for SSL web coding projects NOT VBA?

If so, I'm at my wit's end on how to explain to their IT person what's needed. I've given him everything I have. Ugh. 

Anyway, if you guys can please help me verify this SSL theory as fact, it'd be great. At least that way I won't bang my head more in that direction.

Also, can you help me word it to him of what file format the VBA code signing certificate should be? (Unfortunately, I don't have direct contact with the CA.)

Thanks.

Like I said - I'm no expert. Steve may know more.

What I know.

I downloaded our certificate from COMODO using Chrome. IIRC it did not have a pfx extension. It may well have been .crt

It seems to Install but I got the same message "No useable certificate ..." in the VBE,

When I downloaded using Firefox I got a .P12 file and COMODO said this was fine and I could change it to .pfx if I wished.

I did and it installed and works fine.