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IN MY TESTS WITH WINDOWS 11, my CAC read fine and accessed https://webmail.apps.mil and signed a PDF.
Microsoft officially released Windows 11 on 5 October 2021.
Utilizing your CAC on Windows 11 "can" be as easy as.
However, computers don't always cooperate with us. So.
Here are my findings and solutions:
Information: Edge is the default web browser in Windows 11. Internet Explorer has been REMOVED on the computer which means no backwards compatibility for web pages that do not work with Edge.
Finding 1. I can't access encrypted emails when using the Edge web browser
Solution 1: The Edge web browser does NOT support S/MIME in DoD Enterprise Email
Information (from Microsoft): To understand the problem with OWA, Edge, and S/MIME you need to know the OWA S/MIME is an Active-X control. By design Edge does not support Active-X (or Browser Helper Objects); this is good from a security perspective, but bad if you want to use OWA with Edge. Windows 11/Edge is a work in progress, Microsoft is planning to use other technologies to replace Active-X sometime in the future. In the meantime you must use Internet Explorer 11, BUT, it is not available in Windows 11. :(
Finding 2. I can't sign PDFs (Portable Document Format) like I did in older Windows versions
Solution 2: To digitally sign PDFs, you need to save the PDF to your computer and, NOT use the default PDF viewer of Edge web browser, and make Adobe Reader the default PDF viewer. NO other PDF readers will allow digitally signing of forms. This should happen automatically when installing Adobe Reader. However, if it doesn't, here is how to change the default viewer:
Type: "default" into the Search the web and Windows / I'm Cortana / Ask me anything (box) near the Windows logo at the bottom left of your screen.
Click: Default Programs at the top of the list.
Click: Associate a file type or protocol with a program.
Scroll down to .pdf, if it shows Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is set correctly, if it shows some other program, select .pdf and click the Change program.. (button) in the upper right corner of the screen.
"Adobe Acrobat Reader" should be in the list of choices, select it and then OK
Finding 3. Cannot see / select the Authentication / PIV certificate in Windows 11
Solution 4: Windows 11 users will see the certificate selection different than older versions of Windows. There is no need to click More choices to see additional certificates. Select the correct certificate and then click OK. For 99.9% of DoD websites, we now select the certificate Without the Word EMAIL in it. In this image below you will notice it does not show the word Authentication. So, you will need to click on Certificate Information and select the certificate with the words Smart Card Logon. That is the Authentication certificate.
Last Update or Review: Tuesday, 11 July 2023 17:00 hrs
The following domain names all resolve to the same website: ChiefsCACSite.com, CommonAccessCard.us, CommonAccessCard.info, & ChiefGeek.us
