Security error when connecting to a local Apache server with a self-signed root certificate (Importing through browser settings works)

Question

I am a university student currently working on a project, and I have encountered an issue with the Microsoft Edge browser on my Windows system. I have disabled Edge Root Store and imported a self-generated root certificate authority (CA) into my system's certificate store. However, when I try to connect to my local Apache server, which uses a certificate signed by my self-created CA, I receive a security error.

Interestingly, when I import the root certificate directly through the Microsoft Edge browser settings instead of using the system's certificate store, everything works as expected and I am able to connect to the local Apache server without any security errors.

I am curious to know why importing the certificate through the browser settings resolves the issue while importing it into the system's certificate store does not. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, or does anyone have suggestions on how to ensure that Microsoft Edge correctly recognizes certificates imported into the system's certificate store?

Thank you for your time and help.

Answer 1

Hi @GIANLUCA GIARDINA ,

This has something to do with Changes to Microsoft Edge browser TLS server certificate verification. In a word, Microsoft Edge uses the built-in certificate verifier with the Microsoft Root Store as the source of public trust.

As a temporary workaround, you can disable the group policy MicrosoftRootStoreEnabled to use the system certificate verifier and system root certificates. However, this group policy is deprecated and will be removed in version 114.

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