VMware causes Internet Explorer SSL certificate issue

[jeffshead]

I installed VMware Workstation 10.0.0 build-1295980 on a Windows 7 x64 host.

Everything works great but now I get the following IE warning on most (not all) HTTPS pages that I visit when using the host machine and any version of IE:

I do not get this type of alert when accessing the same pages with Firefox or Chrome nor do I get the alert when using any VMware guest that's using IE or any browser. It only affects the host machine and it does not matter if I have any guests running or not.

If I use MSCONFIG or services.msc to disable the VMware Workstation Server service, the problem goes away.

This seems to be a bug to me. Does anyone know how to fix this?

I tried to report this to VMware but the links on the bottom of (VMware KB: Product is not listed when filing a Technical Support Request in My VMware (2009213)) do not work.

[abhilashhb]

After you login into the Workstation on the URL Address field you will find a lock symbol.

Select View certificate and then at the bottom of that window there will be something called install certificate. You have to click on that abd out it into your Trusted root Authority---Local computer.

After this the certificate will be trusted by tour browser. The error is because its a self-signed certificate. If you don't want that to happen you will have to get a Signed certificate.

For Firefox if you add it to security exception it will never prompt this again.

[jeffshead]

Thank you for replying but this has nothing to do with self-signed certs.

As I stated in my original post, this happen when visiting almost any page via HTTPS (i.e., any secured page on any public website) using the host machine, not a guest VM. I should not have to install any signed certs to the local machine.

Simply turning off the VMware Workstation Server service alleviates this problem so VMware is causing the security certificate errors in IE.

[abhilashhb]

Apparently synchronizing your system time with time.windows.com solves this issue.

Check this link. I don't think workstation is causing this issue. How do I stop IE 9 from blocking websites from displaying content with security certificate errors?

i'm just trying to help you. If none of this helps you can still go ahead raise a ticket with VMware. Try starting the service and doing as mentioned above. See if it solves the issue.

[jeffshead]

Thanks but I already tried that and every other thing I came across while Googling. The time is correct but I tried a manual sync anyway. It did not help.

This issue is caused by the VMware Workstation Server service.

[jeffshead]

I'm ready to dump VMware Workstation all together.

This issue was resolved with V11 but because of crashes and freezes I recently reverted back to v10 so this problem came back.

I can't believe I'm the only one who has encountered this.

To reiterate, VMware Workstation 10 is not open and no vm's are running in the background. Simply visiting https://www.youtube.com using IE11 on the host throws the following alert:

I already imported the VMware cert in the root authority but the issue is that the VMware cert is being used for all https traffic so of course the name is a mismatch.

Why is the VMware cert being used?

How can this be resolved?

[blero]

Hello,

I had the same problem (but with Worstation 11) and just solved it.

Go to Internet Options, Content, Certificates, Intermediate Certification Authorities, go to the bottom of the list, where you should find VMware certificate.

Just remove it, Close.

Close Internet Explorer, reopen it,  go to YouTube website, the message pops up again, click View Certificate, General, click on Install Certificate, OK.

No more certificates message for me so far.

Good luck !

Edit::

Ok, that wasn't enough to eliminate the problem.

I guess it's caused by two things, or one of the two:

- the certificate is too old, because it's from an older installation of VMware Workkstation. It's not updated by the new installation, as it should, I would imagine.

- the blocking of googleads.g.doubleclick.net (to avoid Google ads).

You should first uninstall Workstation completely (c:\ProgramData\VMware\SSL must be empty), and reinstall it.

If this is not enough, deal with the anti-blocking software, or the hosts file, to re-enable googleads.g.doubleclick.net.

However, that's not what I did on my PC.

I did it the hard way, manually copying the new certificate over the the old one (in c:\ProgramData\VMware\SSL), installing it in the Trusted Root Certification Authorities instead of in the Intermediate Certification Authorities, and modifying in its Properties the roles of the certificate (deactivating them completely, actually).

And now the problem has really disappeared.

But I wouldn't recommend to do it this way, it's a little complicated.

[jeffshead]

Awesome, Blero!

Yep... My HOSTS file blocks Google ads. I realized this was a contributing factor shortly after I started this thread but even still, the problem should not occur. I did not encounter this issue when I had Workstation 11 installed but it happened when I first installed v.10 on a fresh Windows machine and when I went back to v.10.

I did the same as you did. I edited the properties of the cert. Took less than a minute.

In case anyone is wondering, I reverted back to v.10 because I get periodic freezes with v.11. When I say freezes, I mean everything stops responding -- the host, VMware, etc. Freeze lasts for several seconds and then everything is fine for several minutes then it repeats every 10-20 minutes with no errors. I think it's related to Windows Explorer. Tried two fresh installs on two different machines and get the same results so I believe it's a bug. Anyway, I need to create a separate thread for the v.11 issue.

Thanks for sharing and providing all of the details.

I really appreciate it!

Jeff

[win7isslow]

i have the same problem when i try to install Visual Studio C++ 2015 but the problem solved itself

OS is Windows 7 64-bit