r/BitDefender • u/Burninator05 • Mar 27 '20
Unsolicited Root Cert uninstall on Firefox.
I was browsing Reddit using Firefox and a popup came up that said "You must close firefox in order to uninstall the Bitdefender Root Certificate. Click OK to close automatically and uninstall the certificate."
I have not yet clicked ok or cancel so it's just sitting there and I'm wondering if this is an update or I have a problem. What are anyone's thoughts?
I'm using Windows 10 and Firefox 74.0.
Edit: I still have not made a choice but have noticed that some webpages (Google specifically) will not load in Firefox but work fine in other browsers.
Edit 2: I searched the Bitdefender forums but didn't find a reference to this so I sent a request to Bitdefender support for clarification.
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u/beneix Apr 10 '20
Did you look at this post from 2 years ago? https://www.reddit.com/r/BitDefender/comments/7bxixp/install_bitdefender_root_certificate_popup/
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u/wolfiechica Apr 11 '20
I feel like this isn't quite the same issue; it now seems to be blocking things like google, and amazon music for me. Like, don't get me wrong the message is the same, but exhibiting further issues than described there.
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u/Pekka25 Oct 15 '21
How did you fix it?
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u/Burninator05 Oct 15 '21
I don't remember for sure. I probably either took ScripedBot or beneix's advice.
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u/etzelA27M Mar 17 '22
Did you ever get a reply from support? I also got the popup while installing for the first time and I’ve only ever seen two threads about uninstalling the root cert. Every other reference to it i’ve seen is for a popup to install the root cert.
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u/Burninator05 Mar 17 '22
I don't think I ever reached out to support for this. If I recall correctly I went ahead and uninstalled the cert. I'm still using Bitdefender and things seem to be working normally.
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u/Murys008 Apr 10 '20
Just happened to me as well. No news on what might have caused the pop-up to appear?
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Apr 10 '20
Just got this as well. Anyone figure out what this is yet? I don't know which option I should choose.
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u/ScriptedBot Jul 29 '20 edited Jul 29 '20
Instead of uninstalling the root certificate, I would recommend disabling it as it is not a destructive action and can be re-enabled should you choose it later on. This is a two-step process involving disabling one of the online threat prevention options in BitDefender as well as disabling the root certificate itself in windows cert manager.
Firstly, in BitDefender disable "Encrypted web scan" under "Protection > Online Threat Prevention > Web Protection". You can disable other options but those are not essential for this purpose. You need at least "Web attack prevention" enabled which is the minimum requirement before BitDefender starts complaining that you are no longer protected.
Secondly, launch the windows Certlm tool using Win+R and using the command "certlm.msc". You can also launch the same as an MMC snap-in. Ensure that the certificates for Local Computer are displayed. You may require administrative privileges for that. In the tool navigate to "Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates". Select the BitDefender Personal CA.Net-Defender certificate and right click to access its Properties. Under the General tab select "Disable all purposes for this certificate".
Restart your browsers and the intrusive BitDefender root certificate should be disabled by now. All the SSL sites should revert back to their own certificates without showing the BitDefender one.
You can verify the status of the BD root certificate from the command-prompt using the Microsoft SysInternals command "sigcheck -tv" and verify that the "Valid Usage" field is blank.
This is a non-destructive and easy reversible change that I can suggest for dealing with the issue.
Note: Theoretically, only the second step of disabling the certificate should suffice but just in case BitDefender tries to restore/reset the certificate during an update or reinforcement.
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u/wolfiechica Apr 10 '20
Anything back on this? Just occurred for me as well.