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This connection site is untrusted

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Under options, advanced, certificates, view certificated, I deleted all the servers from the servers tab.. now every website i go i get "This connection site is untrusted". Even when I add an exception the website sites will come up in text only mode.

I removed mozilla and re-installed and still get the same errors.

Under options, advanced, certificates, view certificated, I deleted all the servers from the servers tab.. now every website i go i get "This connection site is untrusted". Even when I add an exception the website sites will come up in text only mode. I removed mozilla and re-installed and still get the same errors.

Chosen solution

Hmm, okay, that's the "Authorities" tab, which is different from the "Servers" tab. Those certificates that say Builtin Object are ones Firefox trusts to issue other certificates. It simply means Mozilla believes those issuers have good policies and good technical controls so that their good name (and digital credentials) are not being used to issue fake certificates.

You might never visit a site that uses a certificate signed by one of these faraway companies, but if you do, then Firefox will trust that site's certificate and show a padlock in the address bar. That doesn't mean you have to trust the site -- Firefox is just saying you have a secure connection to it.

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All Replies (12)

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You shouldn't need any servers on the servers tab.

To check on why your Firefox doesn't trust sites, could you go back to the View Certificates dialog, Servers tab, select one of the exceptions you added, and click View to show the certificate? In particular, I want to know what is listed for Issued by and the Certificate Hierarchy.

I have attached a sample screen shot for my personal site showing where you can find that information. In these kinds of cases, you usually get the same issuer information on multiple certificates, so once you spot the pattern, let us know what you see and we can suggest next steps.

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Hello,

i cant even go to the mozilla support. I have to IE9 to go to the web now. I attached the view certificate screen shots for the mozilla support exception I tried to add. Even with the exception added I cannot go to mozilla support. i get the "This Connection is Untrusted"

Thanks

Scott

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I cant upload images... IE9 isnt showing the links to upload... its all messed up

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There should be a Browse... button below the text input box to upload the image.

If the issuer name is not long, you could type it out.

Or you could use an image hosting site (many are free).

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Hello... I had to download and install IE11... Now I can see all of the buttons

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Try to rename the cert8.db file (cert8.db.old) and delete the cert_override.txt file in the Firefox profile folder to remove intermediate certificates and exceptions that Firefox has stored.

If that has helped to solve the problem then you can remove the renamed cert8.db.old file. Otherwise you can rename (or copy) the cert8.db.old file to cert8.db to restore the previously stored intermediate certificates. Firefox will automatically store intermediate certificates when you visit websites that send such a certificate.

If that didn't help then remove or rename secmod.db (secmod.db.old) as well.


Boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen) as a test.

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If you can't inspect the certificate via "I Understand the Risks" then try this:

Open this chrome URI by pasting or typing this URI in the location/address bar to open the "Add Security Exception" window and check the certificate:

  • chrome://pippki/content/exceptionDialog.xul

In the location field type/paste the URL of the website

  • retrieve the certificate via the "Get certificate" button
  • click the "View..." button to inspect the certificate in the Certificate Viewer

Check who is the issuer of the certificate.

You can inspect more details like the certificate chain in Details tab of the Certificate Viewer.


You can check the date and time and time zone in the clock on your computer: (double) click the clock icon on the Windows Taskbar.

Try to boot the computer in Windows Safe Mode with network support (press F8 on the boot screen).

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Hello... Thanks for helping me I am grateful.

what is the path to the "cert8.db" file?

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To get to the cert8.db file, open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
  • (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Leaving that window open, switch back to Firefox and Exit, either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "power" button
  • (menu bar) File > Exit

Pause while Firefox finishes its cleanup, then rename cert8.db to something like cert8.old.

Then you can start Firefox back up again and it should rebuild a clean cert8.db.

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Outstanding!! That fixed it. You are a Saint and a God. I thought for sure I was going to have to use IE from now on. What a dreadful thought... ;)

Please take the rest of the week off you have earned it.

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Just so you know this problem started when I was logging on to my bank. I was getting logged of and the error was odd saying something about a bad secure connection.

So i started looking at the certificates with paranoia especially some of them that were in german and chinese. so I just started deleting them. i do see wierd things (see attached) about "chamber of commerce root" etc etc. Is there any explaination for those? Can I delete them?

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Chosen Solution

Hmm, okay, that's the "Authorities" tab, which is different from the "Servers" tab. Those certificates that say Builtin Object are ones Firefox trusts to issue other certificates. It simply means Mozilla believes those issuers have good policies and good technical controls so that their good name (and digital credentials) are not being used to issue fake certificates.

You might never visit a site that uses a certificate signed by one of these faraway companies, but if you do, then Firefox will trust that site's certificate and show a padlock in the address bar. That doesn't mean you have to trust the site -- Firefox is just saying you have a secure connection to it.