Digital Signing - Connector troubleshooting

Owned by Brent Van der Jeugt
Last updated: Apr 24, 2024
8 min read

If you are experiencing issues with the Connector middleware, follow these steps to troubleshoot and diagnose the problem.

Ensure you are running the latest version

Running only the latest stable version of the Connector is required. Uninstall any other versions of the Connector on your machine. Running multiple versions of the connector in parallel causes issues.

  1. Uninstall the old Connector

  1. Go to Start → Control Panel → Programs → Uninstall a program.

  2. Select KeySign Connector and click Uninstall.

  3. Open File Explorer: You can open File Explorer by clicking on the folder icon in the taskbar or by pressing Win + E on your keyboard.

  4. Navigate to the C Drive: In the left sidebar of File Explorer, click on "This PC" or "Computer". Then, double-click on the C: drive.

  5. Display Hidden Items: By default, the %AppData% folder is hidden. To make hidden folders visible, click on the "View" tab in the File Explorer menu at the top. Check the box next to "Hidden items" in the "Show/hide" section.

  6. Navigate to the AppData\Local\ Folder: Now, navigate to the following path: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\. Replace "YourUsername" with your actual Windows username. Alternatively, you can directly type %AppData% into the address bar of File Explorer and press Enter.

  7. Delete the entire folder called KeySignConnector.

The Connector will always include its uninstall script in the installation directory. Note that the connector does not appear in the Applications folder but in the Application Support folder.

Navigate to the installation path by right-clicking on Finder → “Go To Folder…” → enter the following path:

~/Library/Application Support/Keysign/KeysignConnector

Here, find the uninstall script and run it to uninstall the KeySign connector. It’s called something like this: KeySignConnector uninstall.app

Run the uninstaller.

 

  1. Install the latest available version of the connector

The signing platform will offer you a download when trying to sign without the connector installed. Alternatively, refer to your organization’s specific Connector page for a download link.

Operating system-specific troubleshooting

Some possible issues are OS-specific. Find the troubleshooting steps for your operating system below:

Startup shortcuts

Make sure there is no shortcut to the Connector in the Windows startup folder. This causes problems starting the Connector. To access the Startup folder on Windows, press Windows+R and enter shell:startup into the Run window. Delete any shortcuts to the Connector, if there are any.

Updating MacOS

Specific recent versions of MacOS have been causing issues with the Connector. Before proceeding, please ensure you have updated MacOS to the latest version and restarted your machine.

Switching from Apple CCID to IFD CCID (LGPL)

The Connector may not work properly on MacOS versions below 14.1.1 using Apple CCID

Starting from MacOS 14.1.1, the user can switch from the Apple CCID to IFD CCID (LGPL) using the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.smartcard useIFDCCID -bool yes

Verify using the following command:

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.smartcard.plist useIFDCCID

This should return '1', which means the switch has been done correctly.

Networking

To test if the Connector is working properly, the following URL should be reachable and return an infodump.

https://ksc.keysign.eu:52183/info

The following URLs should resolve to 127.0.0.1:

This can quickly be tested by opening a terminal/command prompt window and using the following command:

Windows

macOS

This will ping localhost and ksc.keysign.eu one time to see what they resolve to. The output should be similar to the examples below.

Possible causes for issues

DNS Rebind is enforced from your router

There are two approaches to solving a DNS rebind issue

  1. 1. Update the 'host' file of the device
  1. 2. Update the local router which enforces the DNS Rebind

The problem usually occurs when the device is administered within a controlled environment. Any router or firewall situated between the connector and the internet must be configured to whitelist the following domain names by default:

  • ksc.keysign.eu

  • ds.t1t.io

The latter serves as a central distribution service, offering users installation packages and updates.

The domain names are not whitelisted in your internal network

These domain names need to be whitelisted:

  • ksc.keysign.eu

  • ds.t1t.io

A (local) proxy is running and prevents the internal connector communication

In a network managed by an IT team, a proxy may be set. A proxy needs to have an exception added for the following:

  • ksc.keysign.eu

  • localhost

Check the configuration of your proxy server with your network administrator.

An antivirus is blocking the connector communication

If you have an antivirus installed, please ensure that the connector processes are trusted.

Your DNS server does not resolve the domains

In a network managed by an IT team, you may have a custom DNS server set. Please check the following:

  • localhost and ksc.keysign.eu should resolve to 127.0.0.1

Check the configuration of your DNS server with your network administrator.

You are using a virtual desktop environment

Virtual desktop environments such as Citrix impact the functionality of the Connector. In this case, a separate Split version of the Connector is required. Please ask customer support for a download link.

Another application is using the same port

You can verify if another application is using the port the connector requires.

There are some additional advanced troubleshooting steps listed on the developer’s website: https://t1t.gitbook.io/t1c-js-guide-v3/miscellaneous/troubleshooting

Further steps

If you have followed these troubleshooting steps and none of these helped, you are encouraged to create a ticket on our customer support portal and send us the following information in your ticket.

If you were referred to this article coming from an existing support ticket, please include the information below.

Active Processes:

Open Task Manager or Activity Monitor and check if the following processes are active:

  • ksc-api.exe

  • ksc-sandbox.exe

  • ksc-reg.exe

Please mention in your ticket if these appear more than once.

Hardware and Software Details:

  • Identify the operating system and its version being used (Windows, Mac). Different operating system versions may have unique compatibility issues with the Connector.

  • Specify which card reader is being used. Compatibility can vary depending on the card reader model and its drivers.

Connector info dump

Access the following links, if possible, and submit the results in your support ticket. Also tell us if one of these is not reachable.

Connector logs

Find the connector logs on your machine and submit them in your ticket for further analysis.

From the KeySignConnector folder, submit the following log files: