Xcode 4.6 - "Valid signing identity not found" for Distribution provisioning profile

Question

I'm examining the process of submitting an app to the App Store and I'm having some kind of trouble here. I've been following this tutorial.

I've created a Distribution Provisioning Profile, which I downloaded and added to Window - Organizer - Devices dragged in 'Provisioning Profiles' under the Library heading in the sidebar. What I see there is this:

I've tried revoking all my certificates and adding them once again to my Keychain Access, but it didn't help. Even after refreshing the provisioning profiles in Xcode.

Also, I've read that this happens often if I change the machine I'm working on, but this is not my case. I've developed the app on the same Mac, I'm on right now.

I'm willing to provide more information to help reach to a solution to this problem if needed. Thanks for your help in advance.

Solution 1

Things to check:

1. Make sure in Keychain Access that the certificate you are needing to use has the private key stored with it.

2. Make sure the bundle identifier matches EXACTLY with what you have for the AppID (unless you are using the Wildcard identifier)

3. Make sure the provisioning profile you selected uses the certificate created.

4. Make sure that you download that provisioning profile and are using that to sign the distribution settings of the target.

If all this is done, it should work fine.

Also, I gave a talk about certificates and provisioning for iOS. Here is a link to the keynote PDF which explains the process of how I do things.

Solution 2

Just restart XCode.

Sometimes everything done through the documentation, but XCode does not work properly.

Comments

[abpetkov]

I got it done. I found the answer in the very first step. I didn't have the private key for the distribution provisioning profile, so I asked the developer that originally created the certificate to provide me with the .p12 file I needed, and it worked out. Now I have a valid distribution provisioning profile. :)

[LJ Wilson]

Good deal. Make sure to backup all your certs with the key (the p12 file). Never know when a hard drive will fail.

[fusion27]

Thanks a zillion for posting ElJay, you get a gold star. Not sure how I did this, but #3 was my sticking point. I ended up finding duplicate (to the naked eye) App IDs in the Provisioning Portal, switched to the other dupe and I was good.

[AsifHabib]

can we do it in the case when you make a build and uploaded on appstore. now you want to upload an update and your provisioning profile is expired....

[coco]

Sad, but true. Often, after making changes to the provisioning profile arcana, one has to restart Xcode.

[keen]

It shows certificate in key chain access but not with private key. can you please help me this?

[LJ Wilson]

That means you didn't generate the certificate signing request (CSR) from that computer. You will either need to get the p12 file (if one was exported from the computer that did generate the CSR or you will need to revoke the certificate from the developer portal and go through the cert process again.

[Clay Garrett]

Thanks for this. No telling how much time you saved me tonight.

[Fudgie]

This is a handy checklist for the whole cert/provisioning process. Thanks!

[SleepNot]

Can I just revoke and do the distribution profile all over again if I cannot get the p12 file?

[LJ Wilson]

Sure, but anyone that was using that cert for signing can never again use it.