Skip to main content

Why XP clients cannot request web enrollment certificates from Windows 2008

By
One of the strong points of what Microsoft has been doing over the years has been to maintain compatibility with software for previous versions of its operating systems. This has worked well for a long time. After all, why would you go through the expense of upgrading all your clients to a new OS if it meant buying completely new software packages. The cost would be to prohibitive. As with all old technology, sometimes the old has to give away completely to the new. Case in point, take a look at what the telegraph did to the Pony Express.

The Web Enrollment on Windows Server 2008 has changed. On a Vista machine, it will look as it always has. On XP, it simply will not work. The Server 2003 enrollment control, XEnroll.dll has been replaced by CertEnroll.dll in Server 2008. The enrollment agent has been moved from the server to the client (Vista). Since XP and 2000 relied on the enrollment agent being available on the server, this legacy Oss are not able to request a certificate. So, how do you install a CA on a Server 2008 based system without completely upgrading all your clients to Vista first? It’s a little combination of the old and the new.

First off, you can use a Vista client to request the certificate for the legacy OS. This is all fine and dandy, but a little cumbersome. The other option is to follow a best practice and have a subordinate CA that is running Server 2003 with Web Enrollment installed. This will allow your legacy Oss to continue functioning happily in a secured environment.

12/08/2008
Correction to paragraph 2

I’ve found some contradictory information. XP/2000/2003 can still use web enroll on a Windows @008 AD CS server. AD CS will detect the legacy operating system and use Xenroll.dll to issue the certificates. One thing to note is that Smart Card enrollment is not support on the legacy applications unless you use one of the other methods mentioned.

Refferenc: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732517.aspx
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

By
AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.
Post a Comment
Read more

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

By
In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.
Post a Comment
Read more

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

By
You may not have an error at all.  Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off.  It is not an error.  It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle.  This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the ma...
1 comment
Read more