Q. How to install MIT root certificate to Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone and 6 Standard devices

  1. Using your desktop/laptop computer's web browser, go to http://ca.mit.edu/mitca.crt
  2. When prompted with File Download message, choose "Save"
  3. Save the file (default name = mitca.cer) to a location that is easy to remember (e.g. Desktop)
  4. Connect the device to the Windows PC and connect via ActiveSync.
  5. Within ActiveSync application, click "Explore"
  6. Copy the file from Step 3 to the device (e.g. My Windows Mobile-Based Device/My Documents/)
  7. Disconnect the device from the computer, and tap Start->File Manager and locate the file copied in Step 6.
  8. Select the file to install the certificate.

Q. How do I import personal certificates to Windows Mobile 6 Professional devices?

  1. From your computer, backup your Personal Certificate using Mozilla Firefox:
    1. Click on "Tools -> Options"
    2. Click on "Advanced"
    3. Under "Security" tab, click on "View Certificates"
    4. Under "Your Certificates" tab, select certificate and click "Backup"
    5. Give the file a name, "myname.p12" and save (it will be in PKSC12 File format) to your Desktop. You will need to enter a password, this password can be anything but we suggest something that can be easily entered on the mobile device. (e.g. letter or numbers).
  2. Move the exported personal certificate to the device:
    1.  Connect the device to the computer, then connect ActiveSync for Windows or MissingSync for Mac OS X.
      1. Within ActiveSync on Windows, click Explore.
      2. Within Missing Sync on Mac OS X, click Mount.
    2. Copy the exported personal certificate from the Desktop to the device (e.g. My Windows Mobile-Based Device/My Documents/).
  3. Disconnect the WM6PRO device from the computer. On the device tap Start > File Manager and locate the personal certificate copied.
  4. Select the personal certificate, you will the be asked for the password (refer to step 1.5), then press Done. You should receive a message saying "One of more certificates were installed successfully. Press OK to finish.

Q. How do I remove a Personal Certificate from a Windows Mobile 6 Professional device?

On the device.

  1. Click on "Start" then look for the "Settings" icon.
  2. Click "Settings", then click on "Security".
  3. After you have clicked on "Security" you should see a "Certificates" option, select "Certificates".
  4. Select "Personal".
  5. Select the "Client CA v1" personal certificate and click "Menu".
  6. Then select "Delete"
  7. Click "Yes" when prompted to confirm selection.
  8. Then click "Done".

Q. How do I import personal certificates to Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone devices?

Note: While it is technically possible to install personal certificates to Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone devices, the installation may require extra steps and patience as the only viable solution involves third-party software designed for Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC devices.

  1. From your computer, backup your Personal Certificate using Mozilla Firefox:
    1. Click on "Tools -> Options"
    2. Click on "Advanced"
    3. Under "Security" tab, click on "View Certificates"
    4. Under "Your Certificates" tab, select certificate and click "Backup"
    5. Give the file a name, "myname.p12" and save (it will be in PKSC12 File format) to your Desktop. You will need to enter a password. This password can be anything, but we suggest something that can be easily entered on the mobile device.
  2. Download and install P12imprt (third-party software) to your device:
    1. From your computer, download p12imprt.zip file from http://www.jacco2.dds.nl/networking/p12imprt.zip"P12imprt" consists of a Pocket PC 2003 executable (also runs on Windows Mobile 5.0) called p12imprt.exe and a few other files. They are distributed in a zip file. The zip file also contains a sample certificate file user.pfx. p12imprt.zip (version 0.2, size 320 KB, released 15-Mar-2006) - (PGP sig)
    2. Copy the p12imprt.exe executable to the device. You can use any method to do the transfer: ActiveSync, a flash memory card, Bluetooth, infrared etc. (The p12imprt.exe file is a Windows Mobile executable, not a Win32 executable. You cannot use it on your desktop Windows computer).
  3. Import your Personal Certificate to your device:
    1. Copy the certificate file (in PKCS#12 format) from Step 1 to your device.
    2. Open p12imprt.exe by selecting it in File Manager (Start > File Manager). (Note: File Manager may not show extensions, so the file shows up as 'p12imprt' instead of 'p12imprt.exe').
    3. Enter the location of the PKCS#12 file or use the 'Browse' button. By default, p12imprt will look for the file "user.pfx" in your "My Documents" folder. (The actual pathname of that folder depends on the language version of your Windows Mobile device. In the English version, it is "\My Documents")
    4. Enter the password that was used to encrypt the PKCS#12 file. And select Import certificate. You should see a message reporting the total number of (Personal, Root, Intermediate CA) certificates that have been imported.
    5. Exit P12imprt by selecting "Ok".
    6. You may need to perform "soft-reset" on the device for the personal certificate to take effect.