Expired Web Scanner Certificate

June 21, 2021
|In Error Messages, Web Scanner
|By Abby Moreland

Applies to: All versions of Ephesoft Transact prior to 2020.1.05.

Issue

Beginning July 18, 2021, users may receive a message stating that the Ephesoft Transact Scanner Service is not running on the workstation when accessing Web Scanner from the Ephesoft Transact Operator menu. This message may appear even though the service is confirmed to be installed and running.

This is not applicable to customers who are using their own signed certificates for the Ephesoft Transact Scanner Service or who ingest batch instances using alternate methods.

Root Cause

The issue may be caused by expired SSL certificates used for data encryption between the Ephesoft Transact server and the Web Scanner client workstation.

To confirm if Ephesoft bundled certificates are being used, check the Web Scanner workstation file, C:\Program Files (x86)\EphesoftTransactScannerService\config\application.properties, for the following values:

server.ssl.enabled=true

server.ssl.key-store=classpath:self.jks

To confirm the certificate expiry date:

  1. Browse to https://localhost:60001 on the workstation.
  2. Open the certificate information used by the browser.

Note: You will usually click a lock icon near the URL bar to open certificate information. This varies depending on your browser.

  1. When you view the web scanner service certificate, it shows as expired.

Workaround

To workaround this issue, perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:60001 from your web browser. A warning message will appear indicating that the connection is not secure.
  2. Open the advanced settings in your web browser then select an option that will allow you to proceed:
    • In Chrome and Edge, click Continue to localhost (unsafe)
    • In Internet Explorer, click Continue to this website (not recommended).
    • In Firefox, click Accept the Risk and Continue
  3. Open a separate Transact Web Scanner browser tab and continue. No prompt for service installation should occur.

Solution

To resolve this issue, contact the Ephesoft support team for a Web Scanner hotfix that includes new certificates. Web scanner hotfixes will be available June 30, 2021 if you are using a version of Transact with no web scanner hotfixes previously deployed. If your instance of Transact uses a custom web scanner hotfix, a new custom web scanner hotfix with new certificates may be needed and should be discussed with the support team.