“Unable to find manifest signing certificate in the certificate store” - even when add new key

Question

I cannot build projects with a strong name key signing - the message in the title always comes up.

Yes the project was initially copied over from another machine. Ho

Answer 1

1. Open the .csproj file in Notepad.

2. Delete the following information related to signing certificate in the certificate store

   <PropertyGroup>
     <ManifestCertificateThumbprint>xxxxx xxxxxx</ManifestCertificateThumbprint>
     <ManifestKeyFile>xxxxxxxx.pfx</ManifestKeyFile>
   <GenerateManifests>true</GenerateManifests>
   <SignManifests>false</SignManifests>
   </PropertyGroup>
   

Answer 2

It is not enough to manually add keys to the Windows certificate store. The certificate only contains the signed public key. You must also import the private key that is associated with the public key in the certificate. A .pfx file contains both public and private keys in a single file. That is what you need to import.

Answer 3

Go to your project's "Properties" within visual studio. Then go to signing tab.

Then make sure Sign the Click Once manifests is turned off.

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Updated Instructions:

Within your Solution Explorer:

1. right click on your project
2. click on properties
3. usually on the left-hand side, select the "Signing" tab
4. check off the Sign the ClickOnce manifests
5. Make sure you save!

Answer 4

You said you copied files from another computer. After you copied them, did you 'Unblock' them? Specifically the .snk file should be checked to make sure it is not marked as unsafe.

Answer 5

Assuming this is a personal certificate created by windows on the system you copied your project from, you can use the certificate manager on the system where the project is now and import the certificate. Start the certificate manager (certmgr) and select the personal certificates then right click below the list of existing certificates and select import from the tasks. Use the browse to find the .pfx in the project (the .pfx from the previous system that you copied over with the project). It should be in the sub-directory with the same name as the project directory. I am familiar with C# and VS, so if that is not your environment maybe the .pfx will be elsewhere or maybe this suggestion does not apply. After the import you should get a status message. If you succeeded, the compile certificate error should be gone.