Importing Certificate into User's Browser

Increasing number of web pages started to grant access only to holders of x509 digital certificates. This means that you must install / import your personal certificate in browser(s) you want to be able to access the pages.  The example of such a page is BalticGrid VO User Registration Page.

Certificate stores for popular browsers can be accessed following the paths below:

• Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet Options -> Content -> Certificates
• Mozilla Firefox: Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Certificates
• Opera: Tools -> Preferences -> Security -> Manage Certificates

To convert the certificate to the "p12" format readible by browsers do the following on the machine with OpenSSL installed:

openssl pkcs12 -export -in usercert.pem -inkey userkey.pem -out identity-package.p12

After making use of identity-package.p12 file, you should immediately delete it from disk for security concerns!

If you experience problems with accessing the certificate-secured pages despite having a valid certificate installed, you should try clearing your browsers cache and then restarting it (it's important you close ALL browser windows for this to take effect). The locations of the controls to clear the browser cache for popular browsers can be found below.

• Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet Options -> General -> Delete Files... (you should also check the 'Delete all offline content' box)
• Mozilla Firefox: Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> Cache -> Clear
• Opera: Tools -> Options -> History & Cache -> (Disk cache) Empty now (and apply afterwards)
• Netscape Navigator: Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cache -> Clear cache
  

Browser asks for certificate multiple times (Firefox / Netscape)

This occurs when you have Client Certificate Selection set to 'Ask every time'. You should change it to 'Select automaticially' and this should resolve the problem.