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MS Office Forum / Excel / Setup / August 2007Data Connection Security in Excel 2007
I'm having an issue with a spreadsheet we've created in Excel 2007. The spreadsheet is configured to grab some data from a SQL server on our LAN. The problem is, you're hit with a security dialog that states "Security Warning: Data Connections have been disabled." When I add the location of the file to my Trusted Locations, the dialog goes away. Here's what we would like to do. We'd like to be able to sign the document with a certificate and set all of our client PCs to trust this certificate via GPO. The idea here is that any user can open a signed document from anywhere, whether it be off Sharepoint, a network share, a local copy, or whatever, and have the document automagically work without having to answer any dialog prompts. Idiot-proof active content, in other words. =) I've tried signing a test spreadsheet with a certificate and adding the same certificate to my Trusted Publishers container, but I'm still hit with a security warning when opening the file. Does anyone know of a way to take care of this? On a side note, I know you can resolve this by setting up Excel Services, but we don't want to have to worry about where our users are opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks! Hi Jason, I notice that you have posted the same question in this Excel Setup newsgroup, which I have already responded. So please check my answer there and if you need any further assistance on this particular issue, please reply to me in that thread so I can follow up with you in time. Also, please don't cross-post the same question so that our engineers can work on your question efficiently. Your understanding and cooperation is appreciated. For your convenience, I have included my reply as follows: ************************ The files signed by trusted publishers will be trusted. It is same as that the files are in the trusted location. Check if the certification is set properly. ====================== 1. Click Start, click Run, type certmgr.msc , and then click OK. 2. Expand Trusted Publishers, and then click Certificates. 3. Double-click a certificate, and then click the Certification Path tab. Make sure that the information "This certificate is OK" is in the dialog box. 4. Repeat step 3 for each certificate in this container. If the issue persists, check the option below to see if it works. ================= 1. In Excel 2007, click Office Button > Excel Options > Trust Center tab > click on Trust Center Settings > External Content tab. 2. Choose "Enable automatic update for all Workbook Links (not recommended)". Click OK, OK. What is the result? ************************ If anything is unclear or if you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. Regards, Emily Lin Microsoft Online Partner Support Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security ==================================================== When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit from your issue. ==================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. -------------------- | Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:07:22 -0500 | From: Jason <jerdmann83@newsgroup.nospam> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] | Services, but we don't want to have to worry about where our users are | opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks! Thanks for the reply. I have verified that the document is signed by a trusted publisher, the certification path is correct, and that the publisher shows up in "Trusted Publishers" in the Excel trust center. When the spreadsheet is opened, it STILL says "Data Connections have been disabled." When I choose "Enable automatic update...", the data connection works fine. However, remember that our goal here is to create a "trusted" spreadsheet that a user can open from anywhere and have it work properly. We do NOT want to designate a specific location for trusted content. We also want to keep Excel's default security options in place for all other documents opened. Any other ideas? Thanks. > Hi Jason, > [quoted text clipped - 83 lines] > | Services, but we don't want to have to worry about where our users are > | opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks! Hi Jason, Have you run 'certmgr.msc' to make sure that 'the certificate is OK'? Sign the document with another certificate. Set to trust this certificate. Try to open the document again. What is the result? Would you please send the signed Excel file to me so that I can test the issue? My email address is v-emilyl@microsoft.com. If anything is unclear or if you have any other concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. Regards, Emily Lin Microsoft Online Partner Support Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security ==================================================== When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit from your issue. ==================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. -------------------- | Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:34:53 -0500 | From: Jason <jerdmann83@newsgroup.nospam> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] | Subject: Re: Data Connection Security in Excel 2007 | References: <#9MKBIo5HHA.5268@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl> <KBM48tE6HHA.4200@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl> | In-Reply-To: <KBM48tE6HHA.4200@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl> | Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed [quoted text clipped - 110 lines] | > | Services, but we don't want to have to worry about where our users are | > | opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks! Yes, I've run certmgr.msc and verified that both the cert and the cert authority are OK. I've also tried using another cert, trusting it, and re-opening the document, but the same thing occurs. I've used this same cert to sign a macro, and when I re-open the document, the macro automatically runs without prompting, so I know that the cert is working and the trust is set up properly. As far as I can tell, the only way Excel will automatically make an external data connection is if the document is opened from a trusted location. At this point, we're just going to configure a share on our network for "trusted" content and group policy our users to trust this location. Once we upgrade to SharePoint 2007, we'll have a better solution in place. Thanks for your help! > Hi Jason, > [quoted text clipped - 161 lines] > are > | > | opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks! Hi Jason, I understand that you have signed the Excel file with the certificate properly. However, Excel will make an external data connection only if the document is opened from a trusted location instead of from a trusted publisher. You will put the Excel file to a network share and configure users to trust this network share. Thus, all the users who can access the network share can open the Excel file properly. I feel sorry that I didn't provide any helpful information to fix such an issue. Thanks for your sharing about your issue troubleshooting process and the temp workaround. Have a nice day! Emily Lin, Microsoft Online Partner Support Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security ====================================================== When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so that others may learn and benefit from this issue. ====================================================== This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. ====================================================== -------------------- | Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:42:57 -0500 | From: Jason <jerdmann83@newsgroup.nospam> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] | Subject: Re: Data Connection Security in Excel 2007 | References: <#9MKBIo5HHA.5268@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl> <KBM48tE6HHA.4200@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl> <uYbY2jN6HHA.5844@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl> <c013KmV6HHA.5204@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl> | In-Reply-To: <c013KmV6HHA.5204@TK2MSFTNGHUB02.phx.gbl> | Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed [quoted text clipped - 189 lines] | > are | > | > | opening spreadsheets from. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!
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