SignTool error: the specified algorithm cannot be used or is invalid

Question

I am trying to use Visual Studio 2012 Express to sign my appx file for a windows store application, but get the following error:

SignTool Error: The specified algorithm cannot be used or is invalid 

I start the process through the menu STORE-> Create App Packages, so I do not have direct access to the parameters for SignTool.

At first I thought it was because he used a self-signed certificate from one of our other developers, so I changed it to use our real certificate and still have the same problem.

Any ideas what might cause this and how to fix it?

EDIT: It is suspected that the problem is that our regular certificate does not support SHA-256, so I created a new test certificate in Visual Studio, but got the same result.

EDIT2: Checked that the hash algorithm in my appx package is SHA256, tried to start SignTool manually with the following command:

 SignTool sign /a /f My_TemporaryKey.pfx /fd SHA256 /v /debug MyAppPackage.appx 

Same error, no useful information in console messages.

Answer 1

This happens when the certificate is not installed on the PC on which you are trying to sign the application.

Install the .pfx file on your PC, and then try signing the application again. To install it, right-click the certificate and select Install. Then follow the instructions to install it on your local computer.