NOTICE: 11/2009 - GroupWise WebAccess is now using a VeriSign Certificate of Authority, Resolving Most of the Issues Below.
Security Certificate Issues when Using Internet Explorer 7 and 8 (Windows 7, Vista, XP) or Firefox 3.x and 2.x Browsers with GroupWise WebAccess
Certificate Error Issue: The first issue is shared with IE7, IE8 and Firefox.
The browsers complain about a "Certificate Error" because the college uses
self-signed Certificate of Authority (CA) with the WebAccess client.
Your browser is configured not to trust our CA because we haven't paid our
"protection money" to any of the big commercial CA vendors (Verisign, Thawte...etc)
for one of their certificates. The College's CA is otherwise like any commercial CA,
uses 128-bit encryption and you can trust it to encrypt your data transmissions.
Please accept the college's certificate and you can move past this.
TLS Issue: The next issue that IE and Firefox both currently have with the WebAccess client
is that SSL authentication may not work well with your browser's current "TLS 1.0" setting, which
may result in long waits. You may want to try toggling the TLS setting in your browser to see
if that will improve response time. See Toggling TLS 1.0 Setting in your Browser below.
IE7 and IE8 Only Issue: In some cases you may not be able to access the Colleges
GroupWise WebAccess interface at all with IE. It may complain so much that you
won't even be able to get to the login page.
In this case you can install
Firefox on your Windows 7, Vista or XP
computer and use it instead of IE for GroupWise WebAccess. IE will still be there and you
can use it as you have before.
Download Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Dealing with the Certificate Error in Firefox 3.x
- The first time you connect you'll get the following "Secure Connection Failed"
warning message.
- Click "Or you can add an exception..."
- Click the "Add Exception..." button
- Click the "Get Certificate" button
- Click "Confirm Security Exception" button
Dealing with the Certificate Error in Firefox 2.x
- When presented with the "Website Certified by an Unknown Authority" window
- Click "Accept" either temporarily or permanently (see figure next)
Dealing with the Certificate Error in IE7 and IE8
- Browse to the Casper College home page
- Click on Faculty and Staff
- Click on GroupWise WebAccess
- A "Certificate Error" window will open
- Click "Continue to this website (not recommended)" (see figure next)
- You should be able to login to WebAccess now
- Note the Location Bar will show a Certificate Error and will have a red
background. This is expected and working as designed. It is not indicative of an
encryption issue with the self-signed Certificate of Authority. (see figure next)
Toggling TLS 1.0 Setting in your Browser:
- Open Internet Explorer
- Click Tools then Internet Options
- Click the Advanced tab and scroll to the bottom
- Check or Uncheck the box next to "Use TLS 1.0"
- Click OK
- Open Firefox
- In the location bar type in "about:config", press Enter
- Scroll down to "security.enable_tls
- Double click this name to toggle the value
| Casper College Home |
Computer Help Home |