"A Cabinet file cannot be trusted" - Why?

Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.

Hello i've tried to install DirectX 9.0c for the longest time. I have tried many things to download it to try and play my games.It always says file nessessary for installation cannot be trusted.Will you please tell me a solution.

I have tried everything that you said, but it still says, "A cabinet file cannot be trusted." I am running an XP Home Edition with service pack 2, but I dont have service pack 1. Does this have anything to do with it?
Also, I have no idea what windows updates are or where you can get them, so I think it might fix the problem. I have had Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword for 2 months and cannot get it to run because of directx 9.0c. I only have till October 20th before I have to send it back. A relative suggested adding a new cryptographic profile, but knows nothing else. Can anybody help me please? If you cannot, its okay, but I at least want to find the windows updates and service pack 1. If you can, please email me at [Email Address Removed]

I'm running win98SE and I ran into the dreaded "A cabinet necessary for installation cannot be trusted." I tried Leo's list of things (as appropriate for win98) and explored the WinTrust.dll (and dependents) for corruption or unneeded security patches... I also tried older (July 2004, Aug 2006) downloads from Microsoft of their redistributable DirectX9. The older versions also failed.

I finally was able to install DirectX 9 only after my wife suggested downgrading Internet Explorer 6.0 to IE5.5(SP2). After I did that, DirectX9 installed without any complaints! Since I use Firefox, I won't bother to re-install IE6.0. Leo was right suspecting "enhanced" security as the problem and it looks like the security issue is somewhere in the IE6 support files. I don't know what would happen on the more recent Windows OS's, but for my win98SE, going back to IE5.5 solved this frustrating problem.

Microsoft is simply a bunch of common criminals. Every time problem arises I have to go into a war on their software (editing the registry, using 3rd party patches etc.) This time they made me fix dsetup32.dll to bybass digital signature check.
Here is what I did
00824D2D 90
00824D2E 90

00825C42 EB
00825c43 40

00823F03 EB
00823f04 75

I found this on another site and this is what fixed all my problems with trying to install directx9.0c i went to my Control Panel clicked on administrative tools then i went to local security policy. I went to Software Restriction Policies and went to trusted publishers. From there i set it to end user which allowed me to reinstall directx 9.0c without the
"A cabinet file necessary for installation cannot be trusted. Please verify the cryptographic services are enabled and the cabinet file certificate is valid."
error showing up again i had already tried everything he suggests on this site and this is what finally worked. for some reason it wasn't letting me view any certificates in explorer since i changed this setting i have been able to install all my programs without a problem including activex files etc. I use Windows xp sp2 build 2600 btw. I know this is at the bottom but trty this first

I tried the list in the article and the suggestions in the various posts, including the popular one by Iggy. None of them worked for me. Finally, I did a search on my PC for Directx and found the Directx log. I searched this log until the most recent section where it was freezing up. I got the following.
01/15/08 09:31:07: dxupdate: DXCheckTrust(): C:\WINDOWS\system32\DirectX\WebSetup\Dec2005_d3dx9_28_x86.cab is not trusted. The file is not signed properly.

So I went to that location and I deleted that cab file (ok, I only moved it to test it so I could replace it if I messed something up). I ran the latest Directx again and it downloaded that exact one and then everything ran smoothly. I have a feeling the developers screwed up royaly and never digitally signed that version for sometime or for whatever reason so that so many people are having this issue. Just delete that cab file and run it again and it may work for you as well. I would suggest that you check your directx log file and see what your holdup is exactly FIRST before trying any of these other ideas. I wasted alot of time on all the other ideas when if I knew there was a directx log file I would have checked that first.

Anyway, I hope this helps alot of you that still cannot get it working.

I opened the direct X log and read it to find out exactly what caused the problem and found this message

DXCheckTrust(): D:\DirectX\Apr2005_d3dx9_25_x86.cab is not trusted. The file may be damaged. Please check valid certificate is installed and Cryptographic Services are enabled.

So I found this file, right clicked it, pressed properties and found out the certificate was not vaild. So I installed the certificate but it still says it isn't valid.

Can anyone help? Thanks.

iam running on vista and i cant do half the stuff there because it is for XP and i did the other half and it still dosent work!!!wahhhh!!!!!Pls help me cuz i wanna play COD4 and crysis (if my com can take it)plspslsplsplspls HELP!!!!

If anyone is having this problem, I want to let you know first hand that using the log file to track down the problem is the best solution. I spent three days trying every other fix, and finally did it myself. Do a search for 'DirectX' and find the text file directly under your 'Windows' folder. Open it up, delete ALL of the contents and then save it.

Now, re-run the failing install, when it fails re-open the log file and look at the very bottom, in the last 10 lines or so there will be a path to the unverified file. Find this file in windows explorer, right click and hit properties.

If this file has a 'Digital Signature' tab, then try re-installing the digital signature (this worked for one of the two files I had problems with)

If the digital signature tab doesn't show up under properties OR if the option above doesn't work then rename the file to something else and then re-run the install.

Worked like a charm for me.

Good Luck!

Chad is right, thanks so much!!!!

I tried everything suggested (except repair XP that was the last thing its liek the lame solution since your pretty much reinstalling XP). Had high hopes for Iggys but it diddnt work. Looked at chads post and tried it

So went to Start> Search, and type in Directx and first thing was the Directx log, scroll through it and the problem was the same as Chads but different file:
05/14/08 16:48:57: dxupdate: DXCheckTrust(): C:\WINDOWS\system32\DirectX\WebSetup\Apr2005_d3dx9_25_x86.cab is not trusted. The file may be damaged. Please check valid certificate is installed and Cryptographic Services are enabled. is not trusted. The file is not signed properly.

So I went to that location and I deleted that cab file .

I ran my Betfair Poker game which then prompted the directx thing and it installed fine and worked!!!

To post a comment on ""A Cabinet file cannot be trusted" - Why?", please return to that article's main page.