No longer able to digitally sign VBA code in Excel 2016

Anonymous
2017-05-01T19:09:15+00:00

Hello all! 

I have a DigiCert issued code signing certificate that I have been able to use from January 2017 up until two weeks ago (about the time of the Creator's Update for Windows 10 Pro). The Cert is valid through 2020. Unfortunately, I when I try to sign VBA code with it now, I get the error message "There was a problem with the digital certificate. The VBA project could not be signed. The signature will be discarded.

Is anyone else getting this message when signing VBA code with a Cert that previously worked?

I was able to test on a co-worker’s computer running

OS: Windows 7 Pro SP1

Office: Office 365 ProPlus Ver 1701 (build 7766.2076).

I was able to successfully sign a macro file on this machine.

My computer is running

OS: Windows 10 Pro version 1703 (build 15063.250)

Office: Office 365 Ver 1701 (Build 7967.2139)

I am not able to successfully sign a macro file on my machine. I am able to successfully import the certificate though.

DigiCert of course blames the issue on Microsoft, and given that I can successfully sign on my co-worker's Windows 7 machine with a slightly older build of Office 365, I wonder if something  in the newer version of Office 365 broke the ability to sign VBA macros.

Thanks - Nate

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Anonymous
2017-08-03T18:12:15+00:00

Hi StephenGibb,

My re-installation must have missed the August updates you mention by a whisker. I forced an update just now, 1707 Build 8326.2062 is now my version. And, thankfully, it works!

Some extra info about when the problem was occurring for anyone else who might come across this thread:

As well as the failure to sign a project, Office was silently disabling all signed macros, not just those in the locations I mentioned above.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-10-02T10:52:28+00:00

    Same here, two machines running 365 ProPlus Click to Run 1705 (Build 8201.2193) - started this morning. No updates available. Office 2010 is working fine - Office 2016 doesn't recognise our signature and also doesn't allow us to sign our code.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-09-27T13:02:11+00:00

    Exact same issue now happening with MS Office 365 ProPlus version 1705 (Build 8201.2193 Click to Run).   When I check for updates it says that there are none.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-07T14:32:15+00:00

    Thank you to all those who confirmed that they had the same issue.

    And thank you to the MS programmers for getting it fixed with build 1707. I very much appreciate all your hard work troubleshooting over the past few months!

    Nate

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-08-03T13:10:23+00:00

    Hi @jladbury,

    When I was having trouble the installed version was the 1706 one, I assume the 1707 has only just been released in the last day or so. I forced a check for updates from within Word and installed them, the machine should now be running 1707 (sorry the problem PC is in use by a different user). As soon as the update install completed I just tried to attach my selfcert again and this time it didn't error.

    Not sure if that helps.

    Stephen.

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