Revit Security-Unsigned Add-In: CollaborateDB

Shawn Heator

Issues:

A Security–Unsigned Add-In dialog box appears when launching Revit and appears similar to the image below.

The dialog box points to the CollaborateDB.dll and could present itself when launching multiple versions of Revit.

Causes:

A Security–Unsigned Add-In notification occurs when the add-in cannot be verified by Revit. In this instance, the CollaborateDB.dll notification is caused by an expired the Security certificate.

The Digital Signature certificate expired on 1/9/2022.

The Security dialog box may appear for other Add-ins for various reasons. It’s important to understand what the Add-In is and determine if it is safe to load when launching Revit.

Solution:

The ColloborateDB add-in is an important part of Revit and should be loaded upon launch. Performance issues may be experienced by a user if it is not loaded. Select “Always Load” the CollaborateDB Add-in and Revit will not prompt you again.

Revit will continue to work as expected.

If you experience similar dialog boxes with another Add-In then it’s important determine if the Add-In should be loaded. Follow the steps below to check if the Certificate for other Add-Ins have also expired. The steps below are instructions check the Certificate dates for CollaborateDB.dll. This process can be used for other files.

 

  1. Open File Explorer and browse to the location specified in the Security dialog box.

  1. Right click on the file (CollaborateDB.dll) to select Properties and open the Properties box.

  1. Go to the Digital Signatures tab, highlight the signature signer (Autodesk, Inc.) and then select Details.

  1. The Digital Signature Details dialog will appear. Select View Certificate.

  1. The Certificate box will appear and you will be able to view if the certificate is valid. For this particular Add-in, the certificate (as shown previously) was valid until 1/9/2022 and is now expired.

Autodesk may release updates, at a later day, that will correct the expired signature issue for Autodesk Add-ins.

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