Fix “Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network”

Posted by Aseem on Sunday, February 22nd 2009

22
Feb

I recently bought a new Linksys wireless router and after setting it up with basic WEP security, I tried to logon from my laptop and was successful! Not very exciting, eh?

So then I tried to connect from my desktop computer that has a wireless USB adapter attached to it and I ended up getting this error message:

Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network

Fabulous! What certificate! I checked my settings on the wireless router to make sure I didn’t accidentally setup certificate security, but found no such thing. Also, since I was able to connect from my laptop with no problem, it led me to believe it was something wrong with my desktop.

After about 30 minutes of fiddling around with various settings, I was able to figure out what the problem was. Here’s how to connect to your wireless router if you are getting this message.

First, click on the wireless icon in your taskbar and under Related Tasks, choose Change advanced settings.

Now click on the Wireless Networks tab and select the network in the list at the bottom. Click on Properties once you select the wireless network that is having problems.

Click on the Authentication tab and now uncheck the Enable IEEE 802.1x authentication for this network box. If the box was checked, then that was why you were getting the “unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network” message because Windows is looking for one, but your wireless router is not setup for certificate security.

And that’s it! Once I unchecked that box and tried to reconnect to the wireless network, everything worked fine! Enjoy!

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120 Comments Already

Rodney Said,

March 20th, 2009 @7:17 am

Thanks for the post. This is what I was missing!

shannonp313 Said,

March 23rd, 2009 @4:45 pm

Thank you! This fixed the problem and now my intern can access the internet!!

Tuca Melo Said,

March 25th, 2009 @8:23 pm

Thanks a lot. It really helped me.

jweb Said,

March 27th, 2009 @5:14 am

Work perfectly!!Thankyou!!!

shayzima Said,

March 30th, 2009 @9:34 pm

Thanks SO much! Very helpful.

WayCurious Said,

April 12th, 2009 @8:24 am

Yippee! After aching my back and head, I had an ‘expert’ poking around for hours (unsuccessfully I might add) … and that was all I needed! Tip my hat to you : )

SnkeDr Said,

April 17th, 2009 @4:45 pm

This should be added to all router and internet websites. I was getting really frustrated and had even taken a look at changing that, but I didn’t. Thanks for the help!!

Gene10 Said,

April 21st, 2009 @5:07 pm

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This solved my connection problem right away.

Gustianto Said,

May 11th, 2009 @6:28 am

Greatttttttttttt…. it works immediatly

mutkin Said,

May 18th, 2009 @5:08 am

does the unchecking stay once u re start ur computer?
I had ” can’t find Cert” problems and that area was greyed out and ieee ect was unchecked !
Any ideas?

whoohoo Said,

May 28th, 2009 @10:44 pm

Thanks, this solved my issue as well!!

paial Said,

May 28th, 2009 @10:59 pm

it worked perfectly..
thanks so much keep posting..

lenuliatko Said,

June 10th, 2009 @12:55 pm

Well, it showed me this sentence “Windows was unable to find a certificate to log you on to the network” but i was connected. Programms like Skype and Icq worked for me, but Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage… Any ideas to help me? Thanks.

Anwar Said,

July 2nd, 2009 @3:27 am

The problem is, I am still getting the same error and cannot connect to the internet after unchecking the option! Any other ideas?

Kam Said,

July 8th, 2009 @5:13 am

Thanks Aseem for posting the tip about certificate error. It helped me solve the mystery. Keep up the good work and all the best for your current and future endavours! ~Kam*

threeqtrirish Said,

July 11th, 2009 @9:14 pm

You are da’ MAN!!!!!!!!! Worked just like it was written!!!!

millist04 Said,

July 16th, 2009 @8:00 pm

Only problem is that while I was fiddling with all the other settings trying to get this to work I’ve screwed something else up and now it says ‘Limited or no connectivity’ yet a different laptop logs in fine!

Omegalomaniak Said,

July 25th, 2009 @6:01 am

Thank tou veeeeeeeery much!

Starrlina001 Said,

July 29th, 2009 @12:04 pm

Thank you!!!!! I was banging my head against the wall and every other site explained things in a way that a non-techie would not understand ;-(. Thank you for the simple answer!

charles Said,

August 8th, 2009 @12:28 pm

how do you change this for Windows Vista Basic edition OS?

JimD41 Said,

August 20th, 2009 @10:32 am

Thank you, Aseem. Exactly the information I needed!

GProv24 Said,

September 12th, 2009 @10:37 pm

THANK YOU ASEEM!!! This worked like a charm!! I knew I didn’t need a certificate to log into my wireless network!

cozz Said,

September 14th, 2009 @8:33 pm

Thanks so much! That worked! I am now able to log into my wireless network!

newby Said,

September 22nd, 2009 @1:33 am

THANK YOU! LIFESAVER!!!

Nicole Said,

September 25th, 2009 @8:32 am

I tried all the steps only to find that the check box is greyed out and I can’t uncheck it. Anyone know how to get around this?? I need to know asap. Thanks.

GutsNGlory Said,

September 26th, 2009 @11:44 pm

Wow — thank you so much – your answer got me up and running with my new Linksys Adapter (no thanks to Linksys worthless troubleshooting and forums). Thanks again!!

Rob2891 Said,

September 28th, 2009 @2:29 am

When i went to “authentication” mine was already checked off and the certificate error is still happening?

ttupike Said,

September 30th, 2009 @7:05 pm

my box was already unchecked and still doent work please help

rlieto Said,

October 4th, 2009 @12:35 pm

I have a Netgear wireless RangeMax n-router & wireless PCI card with same problem. Your fix worked great!!

mightycam Said,

October 7th, 2009 @4:11 pm

You are awesome! I can now connect to my wireless network!

honestgamer Said,

October 12th, 2009 @2:23 am

Thanks heaps for this! I was messing around trying to get my wife’s computer to go back online after it mysteriously stopped working and this page helped me fix the issue within a minute. I was so close to finding the same solution myself, but it never occurred to me to uncheck that particular checkbox until I saw your tutorial. Thanks again!

zydone Said,

October 15th, 2009 @1:11 pm

Very Good , searched for so long and at the end it was so simple thank you so much! Now I can connect to the wireless network!

funnysongparodies Said,

October 17th, 2009 @7:31 pm

Wow! Thank you… this was an annoying problem. lol Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us non-technical people of the world! I just got a belkin wireless g router and needed to get it working immediately. Thanks again!

Omar929 Said,

October 22nd, 2009 @1:12 pm

Thanks a lot:) this did the trick.

drewbee Said,

October 26th, 2009 @9:06 am

Yay! It actually worked. Thanks!

smjuthani Said,

October 29th, 2009 @3:06 am

thank you very much, it really helped me. we have another linksys access point in which this authentication is enabled so we never thought of disabling this check mark. Regards, Smeet

McIver Said,

October 29th, 2009 @8:40 pm

YOU DA MAN!!!
I spent 2 nights trying to figure this one out. I tried what looked like other solutions from other help pages,but they did not work. This was it. Very easy to follow your instructions. Thanks

bewildered Said,

November 2nd, 2009 @10:30 pm

Worked like a charm for me – thanks, Aseem!! My wife’s computer is back online. She doesn’t seem very grateful, but I assure you I am because now I get MY computer back from her!

IMajor Said,

November 3rd, 2009 @9:14 am

Thank you for the excellently documented help. It solved my problem in mere seconds…

eliz Said,

November 3rd, 2009 @11:35 am

Thank you so much for sharing this solution! Hours of frustration have ended!

xhong Said,

November 3rd, 2009 @10:00 pm

Excellent! Save me time researching. My wireless connection is working without the annoying message. Thanks a lot.

Doug Said,

November 5th, 2009 @2:48 pm

Excellent. Worked for me and ended hours of frustration!

wang Said,

November 7th, 2009 @9:28 am

Thanks a million…was wondering why I needed a certificate to log on to my own wireless network!

Oryx Said,

November 15th, 2009 @3:02 pm

Thank you so much for posting this! Fixed my wireless problem!

jveeds Said,

November 20th, 2009 @1:35 am

I also found the box greyed out. It’s particularly aggravating because the “certificate” message pops up seemingly randomly anywhere from every 10 or 15 seconds to 15 or 20 minutes.

Does anyone have a solution for those of us with “pre-greyed out” authentication boxes?

melissal281 Said,

November 20th, 2009 @7:44 pm

OMG……Thank you so much – my old computer had this problem – had taken it to ‘experts’ and everything. They all told me I needed a new motherboard/network cards etc etc….and that it would cost me heaps & it wasn’t worth it. So I bought a new ‘puter. I am just mucking around with the old one for the kids to put games on – found your solution – AND IT WORKS!!!!!!

jcrens Said,

November 21st, 2009 @2:38 am

thank you soooooo much!
it worked for my eee pc netbook,whew!

Ed Musters Said,

November 23rd, 2009 @8:14 am

Great post! To those above – I ALSO got the situation of “limited web connectivity” after successfully connecting to the wireless device itself on ONE “older” laptop with XP. All other computers worked fine in my environment. The fix? I had to go to the wireless router admin and “step down” the authentication protocol from the more advanced “WPA” to the more universal “WEP”. Also had to broadcast at 2.5Ghz instead of 5Ghz, and ensure the setting supported all modes – b/g/n. Made these additional changes and all was good! Ed.

Tapas Adhikary Said,

November 23rd, 2009 @9:28 am

Thanks a lot for the post. It helped me to solve my wireless connection problem.

Keep up the good work

-Tapas

buksey Said,

November 24th, 2009 @3:51 am

Thanks a lot for your post! You really saved me! My boss was breathing down my neck about his computer not connecting to the wireless network!

Joe Said,

November 24th, 2009 @8:25 pm

This helped me tremendously. Thanks!

jay Said,

November 25th, 2009 @4:26 pm

This is great, thanks for the help. Was able to connect to the wireless network perfectly fine after unchecking that box!

Randy Said,

November 30th, 2009 @10:15 pm

This helped a lot, after our Linksys 802.11b Access point/ router died today and we went and installed an 802.11g version.

Thanks!!!

brian Said,

December 1st, 2009 @2:44 am

Your fix it worked great…..I thought it was strange about the message, windows can not find certificate to log on when I was logged on…………Thank You

Tearsfall Said,

December 1st, 2009 @10:20 pm

Thanks a million for the fix – it didn’t go as smoothly for me with my Trendnet Nband router and my Nband PCI card, as the certificate page you indicated was all grey and there was a yellow triangle “!” warning me about the certification process being disabled since the SSID was unencrypted. However, on the first page of the advanced options I noticed there were two profiles for the same SSID and I deleted the unused one – and connected almost immediately after clicking out of the advanced dialogs. I still attribute you with the fix, as you got me into the the right dialog.

tsteuwer Said,

December 5th, 2009 @8:52 am

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! THIS WORKS!!!

lollipop Said,

December 6th, 2009 @2:39 pm

Hey, I did all of that and the box that says Enable etc etc is checked, but it’s shaded a grey that means I’m unable to uncheck it!! What do I do?

baila0 Said,

December 8th, 2009 @1:17 pm

THANKS A LOT! WORKED GREAT! Was able to connect to the wireless network here!!!

dmdanie Said,

December 8th, 2009 @5:26 pm

Thank you. It works perfectly now. My help desk couldn’t even help me with this. Pretty sad when you have to go to google to get help on a message because your helpdesk can’t help you.

alaa darwich Said,

December 9th, 2009 @2:35 pm

My wireless connection was fixed after reading your article! Thanks!!!

tikosmom Said,

December 10th, 2009 @11:06 pm

You ROCK!!!! Connected within 30 seconds after the change!

patsjv Said,

December 12th, 2009 @12:43 pm

Nice to find a simple solutions! Thanks!

usmc5185 Said,

December 12th, 2009 @6:18 pm

Thanks a lot. I did everything except for that. Thanks again.

Evelyn Said,

December 15th, 2009 @4:29 pm

Thanks so much!!! Now able to connect to my wireless network at home!

Andy Said,

December 16th, 2009 @8:23 pm

Thanks a lot! Your solution worked perfectly! So simple!

thanksman Said,

December 17th, 2009 @3:33 am

What an easy fix! I was so frustrated and had tried pretty much everything: restarting the wireless network, resetting the router, etc, etc! Thanks man!

sartono Said,

December 17th, 2009 @8:43 am

Thank you very much! This fixed my wireless problem!

b_nas Said,

December 17th, 2009 @5:51 pm

Thank you!!! I’m finally connected to my wireless network.

kkm Said,

December 20th, 2009 @2:15 pm

I tried this but to no avail. What else could be the problem? The other laptop I have is working perectly. Please help. (

abi Said,

December 22nd, 2009 @9:34 am

Thank you very much ….U saved my day….and my Internet connection!

perugina Said,

December 25th, 2009 @9:20 pm

That was great…..thanks a lot! I was struggling with this for hours!

Bolinha Marco Rocha Said,

December 26th, 2009 @4:42 pm

Very helpful. You solved my problem. Thanks a lot.

Erin Said,

December 28th, 2009 @11:57 am

Thank you!!

sam Said,

December 28th, 2009 @12:58 pm

Appreciated, that really works! My Internet is working again! YAY!

Grandpa Jack Said,

December 29th, 2009 @12:15 pm

Excellent help — I am now back on line!!! Many Thanks

jordan Said,

December 30th, 2009 @12:37 pm

It shows that i cant check or uncheck the box how do i make that option show?

Tashkas Said,

January 3rd, 2010 @9:53 am

Thank you very much. Easy…no more certificate error when connecting to the wireless network!

RhoLang Said,

January 3rd, 2010 @2:37 pm

Awesome. This did it! I’m up and surfing with my minilap!

Jamie Said,

January 3rd, 2010 @7:34 pm

Thank you SO much for this. I was starting to lose my mind.

Richard Barr Said,

January 6th, 2010 @8:26 pm

Thank you so very much! After two years, my laptop now connects at home.

mistique Said,

January 8th, 2010 @5:00 pm

i still receive that message about the certificate…..I can’t connect to the internet…..don’t know why….i followed all the steps you said…..but not working….:((((((( plssssss help !

RB Said,

January 9th, 2010 @2:15 am

Thank you, good decription on how to resolve this wireless certificate problem!

DG Said,

January 15th, 2010 @7:10 am

Thanks a million… saved me a lot of time and effort troubleshooting my wireless connection !

windypoo Said,

January 16th, 2010 @1:39 pm

You guys are awesome! Thank you! This solved my problem. I am running Windows XP and there is one additional step I had to take that I’d like to share to help others: after completing all of the steps listed above, if you still can not connect to the Internet try this:

1. Open your ‘Network Connections’ (found in active icons tray).
2. Right-click on the ‘Witeless Network Connection’ that won’t connect to the Internet.
3. Click ‘Repair’ from the drop down menu that appears after right-click.

Windows took over from there, resetting my wireless adapter and updating my IP address. This provided immediate resolution for me. Thanks again for being so helpful!

Enver Varisli Said,

January 17th, 2010 @1:48 pm

About greyed out/uncheckable boxes:

I’m using WPA-PSK : AES (Data Encryption), and i noticed that the “Authentication” tab is greyed out. If you switch to WEP network authentication and encryption, the “authentication” tab is NOT greyed out. I know this isn’t a solution for those people who want to use WPA, but it’s better than having no connection or drop outs all the time.

I’ll also put some other data, maybe we can find a similarity in our situations.
OS: Win XP
Network adapter: Intel Pro Wireles 3945ABG net
WPA-PSK / AES

Bess Said,

January 19th, 2010 @6:31 am

Terrific help! Thank you!

julia Said,

January 20th, 2010 @7:28 am

thank you thank you!! I was able to connect to my wireless network by following your instructions!

ket Said,

January 22nd, 2010 @6:56 am

Thanks, you are great. I could not figure out what that message meant until I came to your site. Now I am browsing the Internet again!

Lo Said,

January 27th, 2010 @8:25 pm

Oh my goodness, I love you. I’ve been trying to figure this out for HOURS.

Bazil Said,

January 29th, 2010 @10:19 pm

Thank you very much!!!!!!

Syaar Said,

February 2nd, 2010 @10:29 pm

Thanks you very much. I also faced the same problem like that with my wireless connection…I even do followed your method before however it did not work as i did not specified what connection I wanted to use. After I read the article again, it struck me… and thus when validating my identity, I unchecked that certificate box and voila! it’s working… great info.. thanks once again….

Danny Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @12:16 am

Thank you… it worked for me too.

Arun Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @3:49 am

Excellent. Worked for me and ended hours of frustration!

PRavinder Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @5:24 am

Thanks, I was facing this problem for quite some time. Not for myself but for my Dads laptop.

Taximom Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @10:44 am

I would also like to thank you for posting this fix! I wish I could figure out why I had to do this all of a sudden, because the connection was working fine for months and we haven’t changed a thing. So, THANK YOU!!!

hhoban Said,

February 3rd, 2010 @8:01 pm

You are awesome! Thanks for posting..:))))

Keith Said,

February 5th, 2010 @11:45 am

Wunderbar! This was my problem. Isn’t Google a wonderful thing?

bigb Said,

February 5th, 2010 @11:14 pm

Omg thanks so much! I’ve had this problem for a month now! Check so many sites and didn’t understand anything! Thanks youuuu!!! This is what I was looking for! Something that actually worked!!!!!!!!

Chimon52 Said,

February 7th, 2010 @12:28 pm

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this online, it save all these people a lot of headaches thank you very very much. I really apreciate. Thanks !!!!!!!

Eri Said,

February 10th, 2010 @12:16 am

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

I tried it a while ago and it worked!

vttieu Said,

February 11th, 2010 @4:55 pm

All the other websites were sooo wrong. Thanks! This fixed it in a millisecond!

Bearabull Said,

February 14th, 2010 @11:04 am

This is not working for me. I am able to connect directly to my cable modem, but not if I try wireless. My laptop that I first used to connect everything gets the certificate message, but I’m still able to log on. The problem is when other people come with their laptops, they are not able to connect wirelessly. They get the certificate error message.

nice Said,

February 15th, 2010 @12:45 am

Many many thanks! I bought a new netbook and this was the error. I am so excited to use it, but kinda disappointed for i cannot connect to the internet. Thanks a lot. This really helped me!

SilverSagess Said,

February 15th, 2010 @8:24 am

Worked like a charm! Thank you!

Paula Said Said,

February 18th, 2010 @6:26 am

Thank you – your instructions worked like a charm!

mike Said,

February 19th, 2010 @2:42 am

Thanks mate worked perfectly

wotawoman Said,

February 21st, 2010 @3:51 am

Thank you so much. My computer literate sone bet me $100 that I would be unable to set up the wireless and with this help I did!!

jacksparrow Said,

February 22nd, 2010 @7:43 am

Hi
Initially I had set my connection settings to WPA2 and was receiving the same error message as mentioned by Aseem. I changed them to wep 128 bit, 64 bit and even disabled the security. When I tried connecting then, the error message was gone and my laptop established a connection easily but still the internet won’t work. Any clues?

Thumper Said,

February 23rd, 2010 @5:10 pm

Ditto to the many thanks above. Just when you think you know everything, something jumps up and bites you in the a_ _ to remind you that you don’t.

It’s alive, it’s alive!

Zyhein Said,

February 23rd, 2010 @5:45 pm

Wow!!! thanks a lot! It really helps!

harish Said,

February 25th, 2010 @12:41 pm

Thanks a lot. this was really useful to fix the problem over the phone on my brother’s laptop.

capri Said,

February 26th, 2010 @12:21 am

Thank you. That’s why I love internet because there are so many people willing to help us.

Harold Said,

February 26th, 2010 @10:00 am

Thanks for this; the message just started popping up today after switching back to WEP. Gone now!

Babybear Said,

February 28th, 2010 @12:02 pm

Nice worked like a charm!

ai Said,

March 2nd, 2010 @12:27 am

THANK YOU!!! Now able to connect to my wireless network!

Sajit Said,

March 5th, 2010 @9:40 am

Wow thank you! I was on with support for over an hour jumping through hoops. This fixed the problem in 5 seconds.

Song Said,

March 5th, 2010 @11:08 pm

Great solution! worked for me right away. OS: Win XP; router: D Link wireless n.

Foto Said,

March 7th, 2010 @8:54 pm

Worked 100%! thank you! spent a few days trying and you fixed my wireless connection problem in a sec!

Efo Said,

March 8th, 2010 @6:02 am

It works but internet explorer cannot be displayed. Any more of the grea ideas please!

hzm1016 Said,

March 12th, 2010 @6:01 pm

I had to uncheck “The key is provided for me automatically” on the Association tab. It then let me enter the WEP key and that fixed the problem.

This may be the answer for those who find the IEEE 802.1x grayed out, or if Aseem’s answer does not help. Mine had IEEE 802.1x enabled, but that was not the problem.