Microsoft Urges Users Not to Remove Expired Windows 10 Root Certificate

The root Windows certificate expires on December 31, but it is still required for the OS to function properly.

Microsoft's digital certificate expires at the end of December, but the company is urging not to remove it, as this could cause the operating system to malfunction.

The Microsoft Root Authority issued by the Trusted Root Certification Authorities will expire on December 31, 2020.

While other, newer Microsoft certifications will not expire this year, some users fear that an expired certificate could negatively impact software, hardware, and operating system functionality.

As Microsoft explained on the support page, you should never delete trusted root certificates after their expiration date, as this can cause problems with Windows.

"However, the root certificates that are listed in the [Required and Trusted Root Certificates] section of this article are required for the operating system to function properly. Because removing the following certificates may limit the functionality of the operating system or cause the computer to crash, they should not be removed." Microsoft said.

The point is that expired certificates can still be used by the operating system for backward compatibility.

"Some of the certificates listed in the previous tables have expired. However, these certificates are required for backward compatibility. Even if an expired trusted root certificate exists, anything that was signed using that certificate before its expiration date requires that the trusted root certificate be verified."

"As long as expired certificates are not revoked, they can be used to verify everything that was signed before they expired," says Microsoft's support page.