Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 includes wonderful tools for remote access – Remote Web Workplace provides access to office desktop computers, and Outlook Web Access makes Outlook folders available anywhere.
After upgrading to Internet Explorer 7, SBS users are getting scary messages when they log in to those remote services. A screen exclaims that “there is a problem with this website’s security certificate” and advises in boldface type that “We recommend that you close this webpage and do not continue to this website.”
If you are an SBS user, you may ignore the warnings. Big companies purchase security certificates from third parties for a lot of money; SBS creates a “self-signed” security certificate that makes IE7 suspicious. I wish Microsoft had foreseen that this would happen to its SBS customers and worded its warning differently, but perhaps it’s inevitable – the same issue is making it increasingly difficult to establish communication between SBS and a Windows Mobile device.
If you’re at a computer that will be used regularly for remote access, you can permanently resolve the issue by following these steps after logging in to RWW or OWA.
- In IE7 at the upper right, next to the address bar, click on Certificate Error / View Certificates
- Click on Install Certificate
- Click on Next
- Move bullet to Place all certificates in following store
- Click on Browse and choose Trusted Root Certification Authorities
Finish the wizard. The security warning will no longer appear on that computer.
