Manually Install SSL Certificate in Android Jelly Bean

Apparently it’s pretty easy, but there are some pitfalls. The first step is to export the certificate as a DER encoded X.509 certificate. This can be done using Firefox (on a PC) by clicking on the SSL’s lock sign in the address bar, More Information -> View Certificate -> Details -> Export. The exported certificate needs to be saved on the root directory of the internal storage of the phone, with *.cer extension (or *.crt). Other extensions will not work.

Afterwards, on the phone, click on “Install from device storage” under Settings->Security->Credential Storage. If you did everything as you should at the previous step, it will display the certificate name, and ask you to confirm its installation. If you’ve exported the certificate as the wrong format, gave it the wrong extension or placed it somewhere else than the root of the internal storage, it will display the following error:

No certificate file found in USB storage

If you see it, just make sure you are exporting the certificate correctly and saving it at the right place.

More details: Work with certificates (Geared towards Galaxy Nexus, but should apply to any Android 4.0 and above.

Updated Aug 2015: Fixed a broken link.

23 thoughts on “Manually Install SSL Certificate in Android Jelly Bean”

  1. Thank you!!!! Finally got my corporate certificate installed on my Android devices.

  2. Import seems to be successful, but the certificate doesn’t show up in the list afterwards. Anyone got any idea?

  3. If the Certificate in inside a folder in the SD card, it wouldn’t work. It should be in the ROOT folder.
    Now Install the Certificate via Settings > Security > Install From Storage

    Thanks

  4. Same here… I get “installed successfully” but certificates do not show up either in systems nor in user list.

  5. I would like to agree with what Somedude, Ernstl, and “a unruly kimi enuh” said. On my Android 4.3 device (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.4 2014) the installation appears to succeed, but the certificate doesn’t show up in the list of user (or system) certificates, and the browser still throws up the scary warning page about the site not being trusted when I try to access it. The cert was in the root folder of the SD card (this appears to be the only place it will be recognized from in the first place).

    Can anybody who has gotten this to work provide additional data that might help those of us who haven’t determine what is different about our system?

  6. Same problem here on THREE Android phones. “Certificate installed successfully”, but not shown in any list, even after reboot. 🙁

    Help?

  7. Update for JellyBean (6.0.x)

    Settings -> Personal -> Lock Screen and security -> Other security settings -> Install from device storage

    Security by obscurity 😉

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