An error occurred while signing

Question

I maintain a large WPF application which I inherited from another developer. I use ClickOnce to publish it. Suddenly, today I got an error message: Error 2 Cannot publish because a project failed to build. 1 1
Error 3 An error occurred while signing: Failed to sign bin\Debug\app.publish\setup.exe. SignTool Error: No certificates were found that met all the given criteria.

I do have a file called SomeName.snk, which is referred in project settings, Signing tab. I have no idea what happened today that caused the problem. I use VS 2012.

How did you get the full description of the error? I also use ClickOnce and Publish directly from within VS2019. I only get "An error occurred while signing: Failed to sign bin\Release\app.publish\\setup.exe." And my problem is probably not the due to a given certificate, as the same certificate works to sign the same project from other computers, and I also get the same error when using freshly generated test certificates. I never had any problem until today, for no apparent reason. — Ama, Nov 14 '20 at 22:28

Antoine Meltzheim · Answer 1 · 2017-01-23T09:33:27.357

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Go to main project properties > Signing > If the expiration date is over > click on Create Test Certificate, password is not mandatory, and you're done.

edited Jan 23 '17 at 09:33

answered Oct 21 '13 at 09:27

Antoine Meltzheim

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This is the fix for the problem. – JohnnyBizzle Dec 04 '14 at 09:44
I wonder why this feature is there in VS. and how can I dismiss it while creating my application – Hassanation Feb 24 '15 at 08:52
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@Hassanation, you can dismiss this feature by unchecking the checkbox "Sign the ClickOnce manifests" in the Signing section of the properties box mentioned by Antoine. – nam May 27 '15 at 21:46

score 65 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 28 '12 at 15:29

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I'd check whether the certificate expired. Most (all?) certs have an expiration date.

answered Dec 28 '12 at 15:29

Judah Gabriel Himango

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I tried all the solutions provided here including your but none worked! – codegrid Mar 04 '16 at 04:50

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 19 '18 at 14:01

I got this problem installing visual c++ on top of a VS2017 .net install. I solved it by unchecking Properties -> Security -> Enable ClickOnce security settings.

It then created an app.manifest file. After that the error went away. Interestingly enough, I checked it again to see what would happen and the problem did not come back.

paparazzo · Answer 4 · 2018-01-10T17:24:33.407

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Did you check for the certificate?

View or manage your certificates

You can use the MMC Snap In or Internet Explorer.

edited Jan 10 '18 at 17:24

answered Dec 28 '12 at 16:28

paparazzo

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While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - [From Review](/review/low-quality-posts/18478108) – Vadim Martynov Jan 10 '18 at 17:17
@VadimMartynov The link is already dead. I will find a good link or delete. – paparazzo Jan 10 '18 at 17:20

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 14 '19 at 07:59

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Go to main project properties > Signing > Select from Store...
Click certificate properties
And install certificate

edited Mar 14 '19 at 07:59

geisterfurz007

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answered Mar 14 '19 at 07:56

motodiver

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score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 08 '20 at 04:17

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Go to Main project (Startup Project) and right click > properties Then go to Signing Then unchecked "Sign the ClickOnce manifests" It's work for me.

answered Jan 08 '20 at 04:17

Nxt_N_C

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DevRajneesh · Answer 7 · 2019-01-24T05:52:01.973

This happens mostly if your certificate for that particular project has expired or has some issues.

Right Click Project -> Properties -> Signing Tab -> More Details button -> Shows your certificate details. Check if your certificate has expired

Ways to Fix

1. Un-check the "Sign the ClickOnce manifests" and try

2. Extend the Certificate by creating a Test Certificate (If your certificate is expired)

Hit "Create Test Certificate..." button
Enter your credentials (Not mandatory)
Save

3. Re-validate your existing certificate (If your certificate is not expired)

Hit "Select from file" button and use your existing key file (eg. .pfx)

OR

Hit "Select from Store" button and select from the available options

Tip: If you still face issues building the project. Just restart your Visual Studio.

Hope that helps.

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 15 '20 at 18:20

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I had this same issue and I was able to solve it by removing or changing the timestamp server URL. After removing that, the project was able to build successfully.

answered Jul 15 '20 at 18:20

Jakal

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http://timestamp.sectigo.com seem indeed to be problematic: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62161135/signersign-failed-2146869243-0x80096005 – Ama Nov 14 '20 at 22:42

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 29 '13 at 16:25

I just ran into the problem today. In my particular case, it was caused by this Microsoft Windows Update.

I uninstalled that update and publish began working as it always had. This is only a temporary work around and means you should probably regenerate your keys/certificates.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 01 '19 at 18:48

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In my case, the cert was not expired and none of the other solutions worked (restarting VS, using a temp test cert, restarting computer, etc.)

The issue was resolved by deleting my output directory and rebuilding.

answered Nov 01 '19 at 18:48

gusmally supports Monica

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score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 15 '20 at 18:02

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Simple Clean sorted it for me. Build - Clean Solution

answered Jul 15 '20 at 18:02

scottsanpedro

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score 0 · Answer 12 · edited Dec 01 '21 at 11:11

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In my situation I had many projects in the solution, so I browsed to the non-startup project and:

Go to main project properties > Signing > uncheck the Sign the ClickOnce option Using Visual Studio 2019

edited Dec 01 '21 at 11:11

Eric Aya

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answered Dec 01 '21 at 10:19

Nada N. Hantouli

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An error occurred while signing

12 Answers12