With this said, if you have extra time on your hands during the holidays and decide to clean up your Windows installation, do not remove any expired certificates from the Trusted Root Certification Authority as it could cause issues in the operating system. As long as expired certificates are not revoked, they can be used to validate anything that was signed before their expiration,' Microsoft warns not to delete expired certificates. Even if there is an expired trusted root certificate, anything that was signed by using that certificate before the expiration date requires that the trusted root certificate is validated. However, these certificates are necessary for backward compatibility. When you go to Windows Activation settings it has production key, but there is text with red: 'We can't activate Windows on this device because you don't have a valid digital license of product key.

This is caused by an issue with a Microsoft digital certificate, which expired October 31, 2021. 'Some certificates that are listed in the previous tables have expired. Problem is that after re-install on the right corner on the wallpaper there is text 'Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation, Windows License is expired'. Microsoft detailed the issue in the following Windows 11 known issues and notifications page: Starting on November 1, 2021, some users might be unable to open or use certain built-in Windows apps or parts of some built-in apps. Microsoft also warns that expired certificates are still used by Windows for backward compatibility and should never be removed. Because removal of the following certificates may limit functionality of the operating system or may cause the computer to fail, you should not remove them, ' Microsoft explains on the support page. 'However, the root certificates that are listed in the Necessary and trusted root certificates section in this article are required for the operating system to operate correctly. In this article, Microsoft explains that trusted root certificates should never be deleted as they could affect the proper operation of Windows or cause the computer to fail. When we contacted Microsoft regarding the expiring root certificate, we were referred to a support page that lists the trusted root certificates required by Windows. While other newer Microsoft root certificates are not expiring this year, some users are concerned that the expiring certificate could prevent software, hardware, or the operating system from performing correctly.

A patch is available to fix some of the issues, but it’s currently in preview, meaning you have to install it manually from Windows Update. Expiring Microsoft Root Authority certificate The certificate expired on October 31st, and Microsoft warns that some Windows 11 users aren’t able to open apps like the Snipping Tool, touch keyboard, or emoji panel.

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