Most of the professional work that we do and send via email contains sensitive information and data. It is why we use email encryption to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. But so much so we get this issue where it states—Your Digital ID name cannot be found by the underlying security system—on Microsoft Outlook.
In this article, we’ll go over several methods for resolving this problem on your own without too much difficulty. But first, we’ll go over the fundamentals of email encryption and other topics.
What Is Email Encryption In Microsoft Outlook?
To put it in simple words, encrypting an email in Microsoft Outlook means converting it from simple, readable plain text to scrambled ciphertext. As you may know, encryption uses two separate keys, one private key is owned by the rightful recipient, and the other is the public key. These two keys combined can decipher the message for the recipient to read. It enables utmost security to the user to ensure that their data is safe from a third party.
Why Does “Your Digital ID name cannot be found” Error Occur?
This problem usually occurs when a user tries to read an encrypted email without having the Certificate in the user account. Another reason is that the certificate present isn’t exactly the one needed to read that email.
Generally, when this error is encountered, a specific email is the root of all the problems for the most part. To know that the particular email is a faulty one, the user will most likely be asked to enter a password to access the email.
These are the primary issues that lead to the Error. A variety of approaches can be taken to resolve this issue, some of which are complex and others of which are not. Here, we’ll discuss some tried-and-true methods for resolving this problem.
Fixing Your Digital ID Name Cannot Be Found By The Underlying Security System Error
Below are some of the ways you can fix this error in Microsoft Outlook. The steps can be a little complex for some users, so make sure you follow them closely.
- Verify Your Certificate
- Reinstall Your Certificate
- Using Old Certificate
- Enabling Secure Email Option
- Tweaking The Registry
Let’s try to understand these methods in detail.
1. Verifying Your Certificate
First and foremost, you should check if the problem lies on your end. You must confirm that you have the essential Certificate required for encrypting the email. Here’s a step-by-step method by which you can verify if you have the Certificate or not.
- Open Microsoft Outlook, then click on File.
- Click on the options.
- In the options menu, you’ll find the Trust Center. Click on it.
- Open the Trust Centre Settings and the Email Security option.
- Close to the settings button, you’ll find the cert. title
Open the title and see whether it is blank or not. If they’re empty, you’ll need to buy a new certificate.
2. Reinstall Certificate
As previously stated, this Error generally indicates that the device in question lacks the sender’s private key, which is required for deciphering encrypted emails. Check to see if this problem is affecting all of your encrypted emails. If this is the case, you must reinstall the Certificate because the first installation was incorrect.
To do that, you’ve to contact the Certificate Authority by which you bought the digital Certificate. Tell them to reissue the Certificate on your computer by stating the problems you’re experiencing. Then, restart your PC, open Outlook, and see whether the problem persists. Check if you’re using a valid certificate or not by going into the Trust Center Settings by following the same steps as we’ve mentioned above.
3. Using the Old Certificate
If you’re still facing the same issue as before, even after reinstalling the new Certificate, you can try reinstalling your old Certificate and see if that works. Maybe having both certificates might solve the issue.
However, to your knowledge, some of the encrypted emails that used the old Certificate might not open without the old Certificate’s key. Hence, it is advised that you keep your old digital Certificate in a separate backup folder to be safe from the people who still might be using your old Certificate.
4. Enabling Secure Email Option With Client Authentication
As per the experience of many trusted users, it seems like enabling the secure email option with client authentication worked and solved their issues. We’ll be going over that too. Here are the necessary steps by which you can perform this action.
- Open the Internet Explorer on your PC, then press the Tools button.
- Now, click on the Internet option and press the Content Tab.
- Here, on the Content Tab, click the Certificates, then press Personal.
- Now choose the advanced option, and below the Certificate Purpose, find the Client Authentication & Secure Email Option option.
- Check the box right next to it. Press OK to confirm your changes.
Most likely, your problems are fixed now. But still, you can check if it worked out or not. If you’re still facing the same issue, here’s the last bit of effective diagnosis that you can fix this problem.
5. Tweaking the Registry
It is the last step by which your problem indeed will be solved if it isn’t solved yet even after following the four steps mentioned above.
You have to modify your registry entries; however, you must be very careful as this is a risky way of solving the issue. But after successfully doing that, your problem will be resolved fully. Nevertheless, always take a backup of Windows Registry or Create a System Restore point in case something happens that makes WIndows inaccessible
Here are the steps that you need to follow to do this :
- Press the Win + R key on the keyboard to open the RUN utility.
- There, type Regedit and press enter.
- Now, in the registry editor, go to the following path,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Security
4. Again, look on the right side of the window click to create a new DWRDO Value – UseAlternateDefaultEncryptionAlg.
5. Double click on the entry. Now edit the value from 0 to 1.
6. You have to create a new STRING value – DefaultEncryptionAlgOID.
7. Again, double-click to edit the value.
8. Now type the given number – 1.2.840.113549.3.7.
It will show the OID to the 3DES encryption Algorithm. This method might be typical for a general day-to-day user, but it is also effective. Hopefully, it solved your persisting issue.
Are Microsoft Outlook Emails Encrypted?
Yes, Microsoft Outlook emails are encrypted, and you can be at complete peace of mind while sending or receiving crucial information over those emails. Outlook is the second most used email service worldwide, after Gmail. Microsoft takes due care of its users’ safety and privacy.
Is Making Changes To Windows Registry Safe?
The registry is a crucial element in Windows, and one should be cautious while making even the most minor changes to the Windows registry. Generally, there shouldn’t be any issues if you make smaller changes and know what you are tweaking.
In this article, we’ve discussed the five best approaches to solve the digital id name that cannot be found on your Microsoft Outlook. To save some precious time, please try reinstalling the certificates first, as most of the issues are solved by just doing that. If the problem continues, follow the next approaches serially as the first few steps are easier to implement.
Tweaking your registry must be your last option in case nothing works. It might seem not easy at a glance, but it is just a few steps to get going. We’ve also given brief stepwise guidelines that you can follow to do that. We hope this article was helpful to you and you got what you were looking for. These five methods are your best bet on resolving those issues.
