A certificate installed on an Exchange Server 2010 server may display the following error message.

The certificate is invalid for exchange server usage

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

This can occur when the certificate cannot be verified to a trusted certificate authority.  This may occur when the certificate has been issued by a private certificate authority.

To correct the problem you must install the root certificate for the certificate authority.  For a private certificate authority this can be obtained from the web enrollment page (eg http://ca-server/certsrv).

Browse to the web page and click on Download a CA Certificate, Certificate Chain, or CRL.Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

Click to download either the CA Certificate (if the certificate was issued by a root CA) or the Certificate Chain (if the certificate was issued by an intermediary CA).

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

Launch a new Microsoft Management Console (Start -> Run, mmc.exe) and add the Certificates snap-in to it, connecting to the Computer Account for the Local Computer.

Navigate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities.  Right-click on Certificates and choose All Tasks and then Import.

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

Browse and choose the CA Certificate or Certificate Chain that you downloaded earlier.

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

Place the certificate in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

Complete the import wizard and then refresh the Exchange Management Console, and the certificate should now be valid.

Exchange Server 2010 "The Certificate is Invalid for Exchange Server Usage" Error

About the Author

Paul Cunningham

Paul is a former Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. He works as a consultant, writer, and trainer specializing in Office 365 and Exchange Server. Paul no longer writes for Practical365.com.

Comments

  1. Jovem Nerd

    Thank you. It works like a charm.

  2. Pearce

    Thanks Paul! Your tutorials are invaluable.

  3. remo

    thanks for this – helped me

  4. Daniel

    We have an issue with clients not being able to connect with outlook anywhere. OWA works and so do our mobile devices. The only thing that has changed recently was our CAS certificate which is now SHA2(Entrust).

  5. bec80

    THX ! 🙂

  6. Navz

    Hi Paul

    My cert is from GoDaddy. How I do about getting rid of the error for a cert that was issued from a public CA.

    1. Avatar photo
      Paul Cunningham

      I would contact the CA for assistance. There may be a root or intermediate cert you need to download and install on the server as well.

  7. Fernando M

    Paul, i need a litle help, 🙂

    my cenario.

    one server for all services.
    i buy a digicert san certificate,
    I configured :
    CN=autodiscover.mydomain.com.br
    SAN=webmail.mydomain.com.br

    i need add FQDN from my server spoex1.mydomain.com.br ? to my SAN certificate?

    Thanks

  8. S. Murugan

    Nice Write Up.. helped lot..

    Thanks Mr.Paul.

  9. Tony

    Hi all,

    I’ve read some articles relating to SAN, but still confuse about it and I appreciate your help.

    Here are my lab:

    ——————————————————————————————————————————–

    Exchange (ex.test.com)(103.20.74.52) Linux mail server (linux.mail.com) (103.20.76.3)

    ||

    ||
    Outlook clients (internal users, non-domain): group1 (network: 103.20.74.x), group2 (network: 103.20.76.x)

    ———————————————————————————————————————————

    I’d like to plan to :

    – Users of group_1 use host: mail1.test.com, to create Exchange profile and get mail

    – Users of group_2 use host: mail2.local.com, to create Exchange profile and get mail

    – Linux mail server: use host : mail2.local.com, auto.local.com, to connect to Exchange server and use option Autosicover

    (To add Exchange to Linux mail, we only put the name/IP of Exchange server and Administrator account into it. Besides, Linux mail server also support Autodiscover option to lookup Exchange e-mail. To create a mailbox connecting to Exchange email, we only create name and give a exchange email)

    And some guys tell me to use multiple hosts, you will create SAN certificate. So, from Exchange server, I create a SAN with all information:

    CN (Common) name = ex.test.com

    Other domain names = mail1.test.com, mail2.local.com, auto.local.com, owa.local.com

    All steps to create certificate/import are followed as in

    https://www.practical365.com/exchange-server-2010-certificate-invalid-for-exchange-server-usage-error/

    But I still confuse about this. Here are my questions:

    1. To do my plan, create SAN is right way ?

    2. We’ve to add the names in SAN to DNS server. (please review the table as below) ? IF not, is it possible ?

    FQDN ————- DNS type ——— Value

    ex.test.com———-A—————-103.20.74.52

    mail1.test.com —– A —————103.20.74.52

    mail2.local.com—-CNAME————–mail1.test.com
    auto.local.com—–CNAME————–mail1.test.com
    owa.local.com —–CNAME————–mail1.test.com

    3. When requesting a certificate from CA authority server (also Active Directory of Exchange server), I’ve 2 options : Download a “ROOT CA” or “Certificate Chain”. what kind of certificate to download ? In my case, is Certificate Chain ?

    4. if a user of group1 or group 2 or Linux connects to Exchange server, do we have the log in Exchange to know that ? and in log, whether all trace information point to primary host name or suitable name as in plan ? – I meant that:

    group 1 connects to Exchange ny host: mail1.test.com. In Exchange logs, this show that users of group 1 connect to host mail1.test.com, or always point to ex.local.com ?

    5.

    5.1. After installing SAN, all connection to Exchange are verified by SAN no matter what the end-user is Outlook or other servers ?

    5.2. From Linux server, I’ll send email to a Linux_user configured Exchange email. On Linux server command I typed:

    openssl s_client -showcerts -connect mail2.local.com:443

    or

    openssl s_client -showcerts -connect ex.local.com:443

    Output: verify error:num=20:unable to get local issuer certificate

    Although having errors, I can get right Issuer (AD name and encrypt key between “Begin/ End”). So, does my SAN have problem ? do you know about this issue and how to fix it ?

    Thanks in advance.
    Tony

  10. Scott

    Yet again my bacon saved by Exchange Server Pro

  11. Richard

    Thank you Paul, I got it fix.

  12. Daniel

    Had this issue today when my root CA cert expired. Resolved this on the Exchange servers by doing a gpupdate /force, as the root CA is automatically pushed out and updated in GP.

    1. Alex

      This helped me, thanks!

  13. Kamran

    Hi Paul,

    I get exactly the same error message. I bought SSL certificate from godaddy.com. Can you please tell me where can I get the root certificate for godaddy? I don’t know what is this web enrollment page? what I understand is that there must be a web enrollment page for godaddy and I need to download Root cert for godaddy from there and install it on my servers somewhere?

    Please help,
    Many thanks,

    1. Avatar photo
      Paul Cunningham

      The web enrollment page you see there only relates to a private CA. For a commercial CA such as Godaddy you’ll need to check their support pages or contact them to ask about any other required certificates you need to install to get your SSL certificate working.

      1. Kamran

        Thanks Paul. I got it working, I had to install the intermidiate certificates from go daddy to get it working, Cheers! 🙂

  14. Alex C

    Addition:
    Can also happen to certificates with an official root CA.
    Then the Exchange server is not able to check the revocation of the cert.

    Workaround:
    Open cmd with elevated permissions (right click -> Run as Administrator)
    netsh winhttp set proxy “;exeption;exeption”
    Refresh EMC
    Maybe need to restart Exchange Services

    DING! All green!

    Cheers,
    Alex

  15. Matt D

    Thank you paul this helped me as well – funny the smallest things you can rip your hair out

  16. Sedat

    Perfect. Thank you Paul .

  17. D

    Thank you!! This fixed my problem!

  18. Genie

    Thx you

  19. daniel

    thanks heaps Paul, worked a treat!

  20. Mehdi

    Thanks for quick response!

    I have assigned with Exchange Management Shell:

    CertificateDomains : {mobile.code.com}
    HasPrivateKey : True
    IsSelfSigned : False
    Issuer : E=Root_CA@mobile.code.com, CN=Mobile code, OU=PRS, O=code, L=Berlin, S=Berlin, C=DE
    NotAfter : 09.10.2017 11:24:01
    NotBefore : 11.10.2011 11:24:01
    PublicKeySize : 2048
    RootCAType : Unknown
    SerialNumber : 0A
    Services : IMAP, POP, IIS, SMTP
    Status : Invalid
    Subject : C=DE, S=Berlin, L=DE, O=code, OU=PRS, CN=mobile.code.com
    Thumbprint : FCAA09B80451FB44AADBBF738ACBD5A42D6AE36

    The root CA is also trusted but I still get the error message.

  21. Mehdi

    Hello,

    I try this, but certificate is always invalid.
    I created with the “New Certificate” a certificate request, let it sign by a private root CA
    and (Root CA certificate & Exchange), both imported certificates

    any idea?

    Thanks!

      1. Mehdi

        Thanks for quick response!

        I have assigned with Exchange Management Shell:

        CertificateDomains : {mobile.code.com}
        HasPrivateKey : True
        IsSelfSigned : False
        Issuer : E=Root_CA@mobile.code.com, CN=Mobile code, OU=PRS, O=code, L=Berlin, S=Berlin, C=DE
        NotAfter : 09.10.2017 11:24:01
        NotBefore : 11.10.2011 11:24:01
        PublicKeySize : 2048
        RootCAType : Unknown
        SerialNumber : 0A
        Services : IMAP, POP, IIS, SMTP
        Status : Invalid
        Subject : C=DE, S=Berlin, L=DE, O=code, OU=PRS, CN=mobile.code.com
        Thumbprint : FCAA09B80451FB44AADBBF738ACBD5A42D6AE36

        The root CA is also trusted but I still get the error message.

  22. tomm

    I try this, but certificate is always invalid.
    Exist any different reasons for this error?

    1. Avatar photo
      Paul Cunningham

      Hi Tomm, what kind of certificate have you installed? Is it from a private CA, or a commercial CA?

      1. Austin

        Paul,
        I am having the same issues as outlined from several of the users. I have managed to resolve all but one. I am using the CLI for this portion of my lab. The cli commands are gleaned from your website tutorials.

        Using a lab: Private Commercial CA
        I was able to create, install and test my new SAN certificate on 1 CAS ARRAY server.
        Problem: Unable to Import the SAN Cert to my 2nd CAS ARRAY server.
        Command:
        $file = Get-ExchangeCertificate | Export-ExchangeCertificate -BinaryEncoded:$true -Password (Get-Credential).password

        Error:
        Export-ExchangeCertificate : The private key couldn’t be exported as PKCS-12. It either couldn’t be accessed or isn’t exportable.

        Please advise the solution to how to import the SAN Certificate I used for the initial Exchange Certificate request.

        1. Avatar photo
          Paul Cunningham

          Get-ExchangeCertificate will return more than one certificate. I suggest you specify the thumbprint of the certificate you’re trying to export.

    2. Stuart Clarkson

      Hi,

      I’ve just had EMC showing the certificate being invalid. I used Enable-ExchangeCertificate to force the certificate to be used for IIS, and this allowed me to see the real issue. The certificate had been revoked due to a mis-communication with our certificate supplier.

      New certificate being ordered!

  23. Dmitry

    Hello Paul.
    Thank you very much! You are really helped me! Cool!

  24. MJ Almassud

    you are my hero.

    I was having this problem in my lab for exchange 2010 and of course MS Book didn’t mention anything regarding having this problem, so I got it fixed using your instruction.

    Thanks a bunch.

  25. santya

    Thank you.

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