InstallShield 2014 SignTool Error During Build Process

[#1]

Summary

This article discusses receiving a SignTool Error while building an InstallShield 2014 project.

Symptoms

While building with InstallShield 2014, a build error like this SignTool Error is generated:

Successfully signed: [1]
SignTool Error: An error occurred while attempting to timestamp: [1]
SignTool Error: An error occurred while attempting to timestamp: [1]
SignTool Error: An error occurred while attempting to timestamp: [1]
ISDEV : warning -1027: A warning occurred while signing setup.exe. See the build log for details.

[1] is a placeholder that contains the filename, such as setup.exe, that could not be signed.

Cause

This issue may be caused by an incorrect entry for the following entry in the InstallShield <IS_2014_HOME>\Support\0409\Settings.xml file, where <IS_2014_HOME> is the location where the copy of InstallShield 2014 was installed:

<DigitalSignature Timestamp="http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll"/>

Resolution

Caution: The following instructions require that you modify the Settings.xml file that is installed with InstallShield. This file contains critical data; if it is edited incorrectly, it can cause InstallShield to fail to work. Use extreme care when editing this file.

Please follow these steps:

1. Close InstallShield.

2.

Find the Settings.xml file that is installed with InstallShield. Settings.xml is installed in one of the following locations, depending on which language version of InstallShield you are using:

?

English?InstallShield Program Files Folder\Support\0409

?

Japanese?InstallShield Program Files Folder\Support\0411

3.

Create a back-up copy of the Settings.xml file, in case you later need to revert to the original version.

4.

Use a text editor or XML file editor to open the Settings.xml file.

5.

Search for the <DigitalSignature> element. It looks something like this:

<DigitalSignature Timestamp="http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll"/>

6.

To override the timestamp server with a different one, set the value of the Timestamp attribute to the appropriate URL.

To disable timestamping, use an empty value for the Timestamp attribute:

<DigitalSignature Timestamp=""/>

Note: Disabling timestamping may affect how long your digital signature is considered to be valid.

7.

Save the Settings.xml file.

8.

Ensure that your XML code is well formed; if it is not well formed, you may have problems using InstallShield. In most cases, you can identify improperly formed XML code by opening the Settings.xml file in Internet Explorer. You should be able to expand and contract the major elements of the file; if you cannot, check the code for errors.

Whenever you build a release that includes digital signature information, InstallShield sets the timestamp according to the setting that you configured.

Additional Information

See this Changing the Timestamp Server for Digital Signatures HelpNet article for more information.