Signing a macro for use within our domain

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Darren - 09 Mar 2005 04:36 GMT

Hi All,

We have created a VBA Macro for use in word across all document in our
company. Because the Office XP macro security is set to high, we get
the warning message about our macro not being signed.

I've spent the better half of the day trying to find out how to sign
this thing for use within our domain. We have no intentions on using
it externally. I have read about the use of selfcert.exe and
unfortunately it will not suit our needs because of the numbers of
computers involved. We are wanting to avoid buying a certification
from external CA (like VeriSign) because of the costs involved.

Could anyone please point me in the right direction for instructions
on how we can use it to get around this problem using the features on
our server.

FYI We are running a windows 2000 domain.

TIA, Darren Stahlhut

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Jezebel - 09 Mar 2005 04:49 GMT

Try using a Thawte freemail certificate -- they're free, and are, by some
accounts, sufficient for the purpose. Not tried it myself, but the method
was described to me by a 'usually reliable source'.

> Hi All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
>
> TIA, Darren Stahlhut

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Jean-Guy Marcil - 09 Mar 2005 05:20 GMT

Darren was telling us:
Darren nous racontait que :

> Hi All,
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> on how we can use it to get around this problem using the features on
> our server.

I may be writing something silly here, but I was under the impression that
if you put your macro in a global template (In Word's start up folder) and
that you set the security to high *and* on the trusted publishers tab of the
security dialog, check "trust installed add-ins" and "Trust VBA projects"
that even unsigned macros will be allowed to run. I am not on a domain, but
on my little home network, it does work like that.

Signature

Salut!
_______________________________________
Jean-Guy Marcil - Word MVP
jmarcilREMOVE@CAPSsympatico.caTHISTOO
Word MVP site: http://www.word.mvps.org

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Ikke123 - 09 Mar 2005 15:44 GMT

Hi there,

It should work in a domain also, so try the steps as described by Jean-Guy
Marcil Darren and let us know if it worked.

Good luck,

Emmy

> Darren was telling us:
> Darren nous racontait que :
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> that even unsigned macros will be allowed to run. I am not on a domain, but
> on my little home network, it does work like that.

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Darren - 10 Mar 2005 01:10 GMT

Hello again,

I have managed to overcome the issue buy installing Certificate
Services on our Domain Controller. I then requested a "Code Signing
Certificate" through the IIS website "http://servername/certsrv/". I
then logged onto the server went to Administration Tools ->
Certificate Authority -> Pending Requests. Found the certificate I
requested and issued it. Then went back to the website and retreived
and installed the certificate.

Back in word I went into edit macro -> tools -> digital signatures and
installed the new signature on the macro. When someone opens the word
doc I don't that annoying security warning about unsigned macros.

Of course this is the massively trimmed version of the actual events
that lead to acheiving the goal, Microsoft products have a way turning
what seems a simple task into a 2 day event. Thanks for all your
ideas,

Regards,
Darren Stahlhut

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