Can I use the “Test certificate” to deploy Elevated trust apps?

Question

sorry for my bad english (and for the newbie question) - I have a silverlight 4 OOB application that requires Elevated Trust to run. The CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync only works in this case if my xap is signed. There is a problem if I deploy my app using the "test certificate" that I can create on VisualStudio? The CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync works fine and I prefer not do buy a certificate only for this... also, what will happen when the certificate expires? Would the user have to go to my page and explicitly update the app since it would be a new (renewed) certificate?

Also, what kind of certificate I would need to buy for this and what advantages do I have doing so?

Answer 1

You can deploy without any issues using the test certificate as you have done. The drawback of using a test certificate over one you purchase really is just what appears in the UAC dialog when the user installs the OOB application. With a test certificate, it tell the user that "unknown publisher" is trying to install software, whereas with a purchased certificate, your company name will show up. Depending on your user base this may or may not be important.

As for what happens when the certificate expires, you can renew the certificate and re-deploy your XAP. These renewal instructions should work (even though they are talking about ClickOnce and not silverlight, the same principles apply).