Xcode "The private key for is not installed on this mac - distributing"

Question

I always get this message when I try to submit my app to the app store.

Here is a picture of the message:

It would be great if someone could help me resolve that problem so I can submit my app to the store.

score 92 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 02 '14 at 23:19

92

Try following these steps:

Revoke your existing iOS Distribution Certificate from the iOS developer website.
Generate a new iOS Distribution Certificate by going to XCode Preferences->Accounts->View Details and then clicking the + underneath the list of signing identities.
Go back to the developer website and make sure all your provisioning profiles are configured with the new certificate. (They should all be listed as Active when you are done.)
Go back to XCode and refresh your list of provisioning profiles.

I had the same issue as you did and this resolved it just fine.

answered Jan 02 '14 at 23:19

Ben Visness

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I'm running into the same problem and the steps proposed above fix it but I'm encountering another one right now while validating the app "the bundle is invalid new apps and updates submitted to the app store must be public" can anyone help on this? – Maystro May 16 '14 at 20:26
Plenty of people have already asked that question: http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=the+bundle+is+invalid+new+apps+and+updates+submitted+to+the+app+store+must+be+public – Ben Visness May 18 '14 at 01:08
@Fabian Boulegue I think the votes indicate that this is the best answer. If you could mark this as accepted that would be great :) – Ben Visness Jun 24 '15 at 20:22

score 50 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 29 '13 at 18:41

50

This solved it for me without starting all the way from scratch:
1. Open Keychain Access on the machine that was used to generate the private keys
2. Select Keychains->Login and Category->Certificates on the left hand side
3. Locate the two certificates iPhone Developer: [your developer name] and iPhone Distribution: [your developer name]
4. Select both, right click and choose Export 2 items...
5. Enter a password of choice, save to disk and get the .p12-file over to the other machine that won't sign
6. Open the file, enter the password and you should be good to go.

answered Sep 29 '13 at 18:41

Kent Robin

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What if I no longer have access to the machine that generated the private keys? – aaronsnoswell Nov 04 '13 at 03:13
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@aaronsnoswell You have to generate new keys for machine you are currently working on – Nik Dec 16 '13 at 09:28
Then you have to generate a new one. – ABCD May 26 '18 at 15:08
After importing the private key to my keychain, it still didn't work for me. However, a simple reboot made it work... ;) – fredpi Apr 12 '19 at 09:46
7. Reboot machine. Seems like it didn't see the new private key in the Keychain unless I rebooted. I assume that's because you're adding it to the login keychain which must load on login? – TenaciousJay Apr 22 '20 at 18:59

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 17 '19 at 13:51

Having a similar problem, after several days of testing, checking, try to repairing and so on, what worked for me was simply:

Open Xcode's preferences (Accounts panel)
Click on "Manage Certificates".
Add a new certificate.

Then everything started working again.

score 12 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 08 '13 at 02:28

I also experienced this and fought the process for 4 hours. finally i did the following

Deleted all the Private and public keys and certifications in my Keychain Access
Deleted all Provisioning profiles
Deleted all AppID's - (Probably didn;t need to do this by I wanted a clean slate)
Deleted my certifications on the Developer.Apple site
Created new Wildcard Development Profile
Created new Profile SPECIFIC to the App that I was deploying (So it had the appname instead of *, in the AppID)
Created a new development Certificate from the Website.
Downloaded the intermediate certificate (Worldwide Developer Relations Certificate Authority) since I wiped that off my Keychain too
Created the Certification Signing Request (CSR), followed the instructions to the letter to add it to my keychain access. and Uploaded the CSR.
Once the Certification was added, I made sure to rename the public and Private Keys, and added comments to the info box - so I could remember what I did.
Created a new Distribution Cert by repeating Steps 7,9, 10 for the Distribution so I could get it onto the App Store.

Hopefiully this helps someone to know that you can wipe everything out and start over. I loaded all the certs on an olf Macbook Pro that started flaking out last week. So I got a new Mac Air last week, but Icouldn;t remember what keys, and I certainly didn't remember I had 2 sets of Private and Public one for the Development, and 1 for the Distribution. (If you have more that 1 distribution, I believe you would have additional sets.)

Steve

I remember going through this, successfully, in XCode 4. Do you know how to remove all provisioning profiles (step 2) in XCode 5? — Danny, Nov 24 '13 at 06:36
Before anyone goes through the "delete" steps 1-4, it would be advisable attempting to export the certificate through KeychainAccess like outlined in one of the comments below, then importing them on your target machine. — andrewz, Dec 05 '13 at 19:31

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 27 '13 at 06:29

It is worth checking in Keychain Access to make sure you don't have multiple keys with the same name. Also, very often when I have run into Code Signing issues, the fastes solution has been to start the process over (create new keypairs, certs and provisioning profiles).

Best of luck!

Alex Nolasco · Answer 6 · 2018-10-25T15:38:28.007

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Ran into the same issue and after cursing at Apple , I realized it was my fault.

1.- Go to developer.apple.com / Certificates / Production
2.- Download your certificate

This worked for me thank after trying other answers.

edited Oct 25 '18 at 15:38

answered Aug 23 '14 at 21:37

Alex Nolasco

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downloaded certificate and added it to keychain access. But not working. – famfamfam Aug 15 '18 at 13:22

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 28 '15 at 01:51

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Go to Preferences -> Accounts -> Select the Apple ID you're using -> click "View Details…" button -> then click the plus button and select the "iOS Distribution" button. More details here.

answered Apr 28 '15 at 01:51

ThomasW

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score 3 · Answer 8 · answered May 14 '12 at 20:24

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It seems that you have got as far as generating a distribution certificate, so you must have generated a key pair at some point. Do you develop on multiple machines? Export the developer profile from the machine that has it and import it into this machine.

answered May 14 '12 at 20:24

Jim

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I believe you can also download it from the prov. portal – El Guapo May 14 '12 at 20:25
Well normally i just develop from that computer ... well i also got my developer and distributor certificate maybe its something else? Just as info here is a screenshot of my profile... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/659484/pic%202.png – Fabian Boulegue May 14 '12 at 20:27
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No, you can't download the private key from the provisioning portal. It's private. You don't give it to Apple. – Jim May 14 '12 at 20:32
Where? I just can't find it :/ – Fabian Boulegue May 14 '12 at 20:34
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The certificate is a file Apple gives you that says "Yes, this private key is approved by Apple". The key itself is separate. You don't have the key on that computer, otherwise there would be a disclosure arrow next to it. You must have had that key at some point for the certificate to exist. If you don't use other computers, and you don't have it installed on a different account on your computer, then you must have deleted it. – Jim May 14 '12 at 20:37
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If you don't have the private key and can't restore it from a backup, you'll have to generate a new key pair, generate a CSR for it, upload the CSR to apple, download the new certificate Apple generates in response, create a new distribution provisioning profile, and use that profile to build your application. Basically, follow the setup instructions Apple give you at the beginning. – Jim May 14 '12 at 20:39
So i got a new profile but same error cause he won't show the new one :/ – Fabian Boulegue May 14 '12 at 20:48
A new profile alone won't cut it. The profile needs to match the private key. You don't have that, so you need to generate a new key pair and everything that follows. Follow the Apple documentation for how to do this. – Jim May 14 '12 at 21:02

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 27 '13 at 20:05

2

It's simple, login to the user's account (maybe on different mac) which was used to create the distribution certificate. Open Keychain Access and export their private key. Then install it to your Keychain.

answered Mar 27 '13 at 20:05

Atul Manwar

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score 2 · Answer 10 · answered May 20 '14 at 22:00

My problem was Xcode was not on the Access control list for the private key. You can fix this in the keychain access without generating a new key pair.

Open keychain access. On the left side select login and My Certificates. Select your distribution certificate and double click your private key. Select access control and add Xcode to the list if its not there.

Restart Xcode and make a new archive. It should find the private key now.

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 08 '14 at 19:06

1

I actually just closed and reopened xCode and then everything was back to normal.

answered Jul 08 '14 at 19:06

Ser Pounce

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score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 25 '15 at 15:00

I have another answer (in addition to my prior post). Today, my private key expired (as I found looking at KeyChain Access), and a new one was in the list. How? Idk... Maybe from using the XCode "fix the problem" button I was presented, or by pulling an update for provisioning profiles as I described in my other post a new one was created automatically?...

Anyway, I logged in the development center, found the provisioning profile I wanted to use and clicked "edit". I was then able to select "Certificates". I found that the one wanted was not selected. I selected it and clicked "generate" to recreate the provisioning profile. Then I was able to download it. I dragged and dropped the file onto my XCode dock icon. That fixed it!

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered May 31 '13 at 07:17

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I've got the solution:

Your company has a Company (Enterprise Distribution).pem and CompanyEnterpriseDistribution.p12 you have to install them as well.

answered May 31 '13 at 07:17

Sam

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered May 22 '14 at 17:53

I have a company account in apple. I solved the problem by:

1)in the developer website Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
2)under Provisioning Profiles -> development
3)went to my development Provisioning -> edit
4)then download , and double click.

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered May 23 '14 at 10:22

0

Try this..

In Your "System preferences" select "Security and Privacy".
Click on 'Lock' icon on bottom left corner.
Change 'Allow apps downloaded from' from "Anywhere" to "Mac App store and identified developers".

-Then try to build.

answered May 23 '14 at 10:22

hmdeep

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score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jun 08 '14 at 09:27

For those who are trying to update an app after some time, you need to renew your Porvisioning Profile in Apple Development Center, and then simply go to Certificates on the left hand side on your Apple Development Center, download the distribution certificate, and open it.

Xcode will do the rest and let you run the app.

Cheers!

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jun 09 '14 at 07:27

0

For me it is that i have not installed my production certificate. (I have already installed development certificate which)

After downloading the production certificate and installed to key chain it worked for me.

answered Jun 09 '14 at 07:27

Sahan Maldeniya

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score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Jun 23 '14 at 08:45

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This solved it for me without starting all the way from scratch:

reGenerate file "CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest" by other macbook.
reGenerate Certificates "* Grid Information Technology Co.,Ltd"
reGenerate Provisioning Profiles

answered Jun 23 '14 at 08:45

Zeus

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score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Jun 24 '14 at 15:26

I am building and distributing development ipa's for my beta iOS app. I have repeatedly had to add new devices to list of those allowed, and have had many woes created by this. This time I'm documenting and sharing such a problem and the solution...

I added a new udid to my list in the developer center, built an archive and found the ipa was not found in the profile embedded in the ipa. So, I refreshed my provisioning profiles in XCode (to get an updated list) and this error was caused with the private key missing (as depicted in the start of this thread).

I then couldn't build another archive. Further, this created code signing errors when attempting to build the project.

After much pain I fixed it like this:

In XCode, go to Preferences...Account Tab. Click the add button (middle left) and select "iOS Development". This will create a new signing identity.

You should now be able to use the new provisioning profile to create the archive.

Also, the build errors should be fixed. Back in the project, "General" tab, select the "team" and retry the build. There may be some additional permissions dialogs. Click "fix" or "always allow" when prompted.

Note: The Member Center and Key Chain list will become a mess, with duplicates for signing ids, but at least everything works. You may want to try cleaning it up...

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Jul 01 '14 at 14:28

0

I created a new Distribution certificate, then edited my existing provisioning profile to point to that new certificate, then in Xcode > preferences > account > view details I updated my signing certificates.

worked like a charm

answered Jul 01 '14 at 14:28

ajbraus

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score -2 · Answer 21 · edited Jun 25 '15 at 14:18

this will happen because you have format your mac and reinstall it or you are developing from new mac .

if you can not do the above and have your old certicate and profiles exported from the old mac

you will need to remove the wild card provissioning profiles from apple developer center , and also from certifcates you have to remove the old ones just the general development and production certificates .

then you will have to create new ones and to create new provisioning profiles for the app you need to upload to apple .

you do not need to delete all the provisiong profiles for now , but for sure you will need to create new ones for apps that you do not create for it .

Xcode "The private key for is not installed on this mac - distributing"

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