Code signing upload failed

Hello,

The error you are seeing is not something you can resolve by removing or “resetting” the certificate association yourself. Microsoft’s hardware program portal enforces strict binding between a code signing certificate and the seller account that first registered it. Once a certificate has been used under one seller identity (in your case, the external account hi_hubert_hotmail.com#ext#@darfonelectronicscorp.onmicrosoft.com), it cannot be reassigned to another account such as ******@darfon.com. This is by design to prevent certificate reuse across different publishers.

The only way forward is to either continue using the same account that originally registered the certificate, or obtain a new Extended Validation (EV) code signing certificate issued to Darfon Electronics Corp. from one of the trusted authorities (DigiCert, GlobalSign, Entrust, SSL.com, etc.). Once you have a fresh EV certificate, you can register it under the correct corporate account (******@darfon.com) and proceed with submissions.

If you believe the certificate was mistakenly bound to the wrong account during internal testing, you will need to open a support case directly with Microsoft Partner Center support. They can confirm ownership and, if justified, reassign or release the certificate binding. This cannot be done from the portal UI; it requires Microsoft’s intervention. When you contact support, provide the certificate thumbprint, the account IDs involved, and evidence that both accounts belong to Darfon Electronics Corp. That will speed up the verification process.

In short, you cannot remove the certificate from the external account yourself. Either request Microsoft Partner Center support to correct the binding, or purchase and register a new EV code signing certificate under the intended corporate account.

I hope you've found something useful here. If it helps you get more insight into the issue, it's appreciated to accept the answer. Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

Domic Vo.

The error indicates that the EV/code‑signing certificate being uploaded is already bound to a different Partner Center hardware account (a different “seller”). Certificates cannot be shared or moved between hardware accounts; each certificate can be associated with only one seller.

From the available guidance, the supported options are:

1. Use a certificate that is already associated with the current Partner Center hardware account
   • Sign the Signablefile.bin downloaded from Account settings → Manage Certificates in the current Partner Center tenant using a certificate that has not been used with any other seller account.
   • Then upload the signed file back on the same Manage Certificates page.
2. Obtain a new EV/code‑signing certificate for the current seller account
   • If the existing certificate is bound to another seller (for example, from earlier testing with a different account), obtain a new EV code‑signing certificate from a supported CA.
   • After the CA issues the new certificate, go to Partner Center → Account Settings → Manage Certificates → Add a new certificate.
   • Download Signablefile.bin, sign it with the new certificate using SignTool with /fd sha256 and a SHA‑2 timestamp, and upload the signed file.
3. If there are issues with driver signing or certificate association that cannot be resolved in the portal
   • Use the official escalation paths for driver signing problems:
     • Open a feedback bug in the Microsoft Collaborate portal from the Partner Center Dashboard, or
     • Go to Windows developer support and submit an incident under Driver Development and Testing/Certification.
   • In the support request, include the Partner Center account ID, the certificate details (subject, thumbprint), and explain that the certificate appears to be locked to another seller account.

Removing or “unbinding” a certificate from another seller account is not something that can be done from the UI; it requires Microsoft support intervention through the above channels. Until support adjusts the association, use a different/new EV certificate for the current hardware account.

References:

• Manage code signing certificates
• Deprecation of software publisher certificates, commercial release certificates, and commercial test certificates