Created brand new watch face and new certificate. i get this error loading to watch. same with old certificates.
I’m going to assume you were able to install other watch faces in the past and it isn’t an RSA key acceptance issue.
I think you are running into a Cache problem Restart your computer. Make a slight change to your design and rename the package ID and try to run it on the watch again.
I’ve seen this error if you already have content on the watch with the same Package ID.
The other issues I’ve seen of this was because the watch face failed to load for some reason such as the AOD was too bright and a new Distributor Certificate was created but the old one is cached in GWS so now you get an expired certificate error.
If that doesn’t fix it and the watch and computer times are the same. I probably need to have more information.
Ron
Samsung Developer Program
I am having exactly the same problem. I did what you said, rebooted, saved and rebuild after slight change, but I still get this
Try this,
In c:\Users\USERNAME.tizen (note it is a hidden file) there is sdbkey and sdbkey.pub. hide, rename or move them to another folder.
Restart your computer to clear any cache and relaunch GWS
do all the normal things again on your watch be sure debugging is on tap 5 times on software to enable developer options if they aren’t on.
reboot your watch by holding down on the home key until it says rebooting.
set your watch face as a pre-installed watch face
and try to connect from GWD and watch your watch face
keep your watch active and watch for the RSA acceptance
if it shows allow it
If you still get the error message then it is probably a bad certificate and we can deal with that.
Ron
Samsung Developer Program
Thanks for the help, Ron: much appreciated! Alas, I still get the same error, although I am in the dark about how to set my watch as “pre-installed”. I never tried to edit an existing watch…
So, it might be the certificate…
What I did:
- I put the files you mentioned in a different folder;
- Re-booted the PC;
- My watch already was in debug mode
- Re-boot on the smart watch
- I accepted the RSA Key blah blah
- Then I uploaded the watch face using wifi.
Same error.
Mind you: this error first occurred AFTER updating to new version. Before, I used GWD…
That helps a lot, Now I know the error better, and it isn’t what I was thinking.
Check the time on the watch your phone and your computer make sure they all are the same time.
Rename your .tpk file so there are no spaces in the name. You can’t upload to the store if they have spaces so that might be an error side-loading too.
If those two aren’t an issue try creating new Author and Distributor certificates (keep the current Author Certificate) Oh and you have Tizen Studio Author Certificate it won’t work.
Ron
Samsung Developer Program
…Oh and you have Tizen Studio Author Certificate it won’t work…
??? Meaning?
I did rename the name of the watch face using underscores. Checked the time: no problem there.
Errormessage:
I am going crazy. I tried to make a new author certificate. I was presented with the two step entry (SMS), entered the code I received, but the “Verify code” button stayed greyed out… Simply NOT possible to enter the authorisation code…
It should have said oh if you have a Tizen Authors Certificate.
I’m confused when you click on in GWS Build menu to generate an Author’s certificate it does not have any SMS two step are you logging into your Samsung Seller Store Account or using Google/Facebook don’t use them Log into your account in the dialog.
Ron
Hi Ron,
For some stupid reason it doesn’t also recognize my Samsung watch Gear S3 anymore…
Somehow the problem keeps getting bigger and bigger with each attempt to remedy this…
Gear S3 was upgraded to Tizen 4 last year. You will need a new distributor Certificate for that, if you haven’t updated your content since then that might be the error not the Author’s certificate.
Not finding the Gear S3 can be one of many reasons. This is documented in FAQ 23 with full instructions on how to trouble shoot the problems.
If it is a firewall issue I can help you with running it by Bluetooth from a connected mobile.
Ron
Samsung Developer Program
I followed up each and every suggestion you gave me and…
VICTORY!!!
It finally worked!!
Thanks Ron, and sorry for being a pain in the *ss!! 
The thing about it is that a month from now You’ll wonder why it was so hard the first time. 
Ron
Samsung Developer Program
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No, I will be wondering why I did what I did for the fourth time already, and why it didn’t work the first three times…
Thanks anyway!
I’ve got the same error here and I tried all the advices from Ron but it dind’t work for me. Thank you in advance.
What worked for me was rebuild again the Author Certificate and Distribute Certificate from Galaxy Watch Studio > Project.
Hope that helps!
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Thanks, friends!
How did I cope with this error (-12 <-6> Certificate Error)?
Something from this - helped or all together:
- Resolve this problem with a new test project in GWD or GWS!
0.1 Debugging off and again ON your watch device and restart the watch device. - Cleaning cache :
C: \ Windows\syswow64\rundll32.exe - for 64x ( nothing happened)
C: \ Windows\System32\Rundll32.exe - for 32x - “In C: \ Users \ Username.tizen (Note It Is a Hidden File) There is sdbkey and sdbkey.pub. Hide, Rename or Move Them to Another Folder.” Recommendation from Ron https://forum.developer.samsung.com/t/certificate-error/3971/4?u=shu1585933699
- Turn off the computer with a de-energization of 2-3 minutes (without a battery) - completely. Remove the spun from the power supply
- Turn on your PC
- Run GWD or GWS
- Create a test project. If you have created a test project and it gave an error, now it is necessary to make NEW CHANGES in this project. Add digital dial for example.
At this stage, everything should work without error. - Next, I inserted an old certificate and tried to launch a test project with an old certificate. There was another error ( with the word “key”)
- it was associated with the fact that the test project was originally created with a new certificate.
But in general, the problem was solved for other projects!
HI Shu,
The problem is that sdb returns -12 certificate error for two reasons. One is the RSA Encryption Key is not accepted and that is seen as a distributor certificate error since it can’t be read.
The other is that when there is an update to the Watch is may require a new certificate error.
Windows caches a lot of stuff in order to have a faster startup time. If you restart your computer instead of turning it off it should clear the caches which you did by turning the computer off and unplugging the power supply. That won’t work for laptops so they need to be restarted.
But generally this is useful information for everyone.
thanks
Ron
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Same problem for me. All solutions above did not work but it fixed by rebuilding Author Certificate and Distribute Certificate.
Thanks everyone for helping. Good day to you all!
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My significant other & I both just started getting this same Error Msg (on different computers & with different developer accounts) in the past couple days.
We’ve done all the troubleshooting discussed above and still cannot get the developer software to build and install our watch designs to our watches (Galaxy Active2).
This was never a problem before. I’ve created & installed at least 30-40 watchfaces and never had this happen until now.
Even if it will work and we can create new author & distributor certificates, what are the implications of that?
For all those >40 watchfaces I’ve created in the past 2 years, will I be able to open and refine the designs in any way if I change my certificates? Will the developer s/w recognize me as the legit creator (if the certificates differ) and allow me to make modifications (without completely starting from scratch - which I cannot do). How do I know my current certificate info in order to record it if needed?
I find it very coincidental that the last time I successfully designed/built/installed a watchface was prior to the 2-3 Wear updates in the past 2-3 months. During those updates, features from the Galaxy Watch4 were retrofited onto our Galaxy Active2 watches. I think something in that process “messed” up our watches’ ability to interact with the developer software - and has now made it impossible to install new designs.
I’d really appreciate an assist with this. Designing (and using) creative watchfaces has been one of the few positive things I’ve experienced during the pandemic these past 2.5 years.
Thanks in advance for answers to the questions, and any help or OS revs the Samsung Wear developers can do for a fix to all the new Error Msgs - if the Wear OS changes are the root cause of all the issues noted above that started w/in the past two months.
What software version are you using? If this is GWS 2.0.1 go back to GWS 2.0.0 (it is downloadable from the same page just click on previous versions)
Never ever create a new Authors certificate if you do be sure to preserve the current version. An Author’s Certificate tells the seller store who you are. If you use a different author’s certificate you cannot modify the watch faces in the store.
A Distributor Certificate tells your device that it is alright to install from one computer to that device it is distinctive for that device computer pairing. When you upload to the store the distributor certificate is changed to Samsung Distributor Certificate.
If you haven’t sideloaded (Run on Device) a watch face to Galaxy Active2 after it updated to Tizen 5.5 you will need to create a new Distributor Certificate. If you haven’t sideloaded to the Active2 and updated your computer to Windows 11 you need to create a new Distributor Certificate.
You cannot use SDBoverBT to run on device with Tizen 5.x watches, it is not supported.
If you can’t connect to create a new Distributor Certificate that is one issue. If you can create a new Distributor Certificate but get an Expired error message that is a different error.
Let me know which it is and make sure you are not using GWS 2.0.1 that has a major bug with creating an AOD and won’t install anything.
Ron
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