Getting Certificates Instructions - Mozilla Firefox

Installing Authority Certificates

CSAIL has three certificate authorities, but you will most likely only need the master CA certificate.

• When you click this link, you should see the following pop-up

• You should check that this certificate is valid by clicking on the 'View' button. The certificate should look something like this:

• Check the three boxes and click ok
• You are done with this section. Advance to the next section.

Obtaining CSAIL Certificates for your Browser

After installing your authority certificates, you have to obtain client certificates for your browser. This allows our network to identify you, which is important if you want to access certain files.

• Open the certificate request page
• Make sure you read the directions on that page. Since they are pretty long on that page, here they are summarized for the hurried:
  1. If this is your first time requesting a certificate in this browser, you will be asked to enter a password. This becomes your browser password, and should be chosen carefully, since anyone who knows this password can impersonate you.
  2. From the drop-down menu on that page, select the longest key length available.
  3. Click the submit button.
  4. After some time, you should notice one of two things:
     • Your browser has stopped: this means that the certificate transaction has been completed successfully.
     • You get an error message: this means that something is wrong with your browser or your account, and you should contact help@csail.mit.edu

To check the certificate go to Tools>Options>Advanced>View Certificates. You should see a certificate named MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Backing up and exporting your certificate (optional)

• Open the firefox and go to go to Tools>Options>Advanced>View Certificates. You should see a certificate named MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

• Select the certificate you need to backup. Click Backup . Make sure file type is PKCS12. Enter the filename. Click save. You will be asked for Master password for software security devices. Next you will be asked to choose certificate Backup password. This password will be required when you want to import the certificate. Click ok, and you will get message saying "you have successfully backed up the certificate."

• To import the certificate on to another machine, copy the PKCS12 file you just backed up. Open the firefox and go to go to Tools>Options>Advanced>View Certificates. Click on Import . Give the path for the filename you just copied. You will be asked for the Master password for software security device as well as Backup password. Once you enter the right password you will get the message saying certificate import has been successful.

Resetting the "software security device" password

• If you've forgotten/misplaced the master password that guards your certificates, Firefox offers a way to reset that password. Use this as a last resort, as all information the password protects will be lost after it's reset.
• Visit this URL: chrome://pippki/content/resetpassword.xul

Topic CertificatesFirefox . { Edit Attach Backlinks: Web All webs Printable History: r18 < r17 < r16 < r15 < r14 More }