I'm having trouble with my website hosted on GoDaddy because it's showing a warning: NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID. The issue seems to be that I have a self-signed SSL certificate, and when I reached out to GoDaddy, they tried to replace it with a free one, but that didn't work either. Now, they're asking for a hefty fee for a new certificate and I'm not sure whether I need just one or five. Also, my other domain which forwards to this site—does it need its own certificate, too? That one's working fine with its current SSL setup.
3 Answers
It sounds like you're in a bit of a jam! When browsers access your original domain (let's call it max1.com), they need a valid certificate specifically for that domain, signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA). If you're forwarding max1.com to another domain (max2.com), it can get a bit tricky because the browser then expects a cert for max1.com and can flag it as suspicious if max2.com’s cert doesn't match. You should either get a proper cert for max1.com or host it separately with its own cert before redirecting. Using a service like Let's Encrypt for free certificates could be a good way to go if you want to avoid the charges from GoDaddy!
Have you tried incognito mode? Sometimes that helps reset any cached SSL info. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, generating a new certificate through Let's Encrypt is a great option. Once generated, just copy it to your server and set up GoDaddy to use it, and you should be good to go!
Honestly, you shouldn’t have to pay for an SSL certificate if you don’t want to. There are plenty of hosting providers that offer free SSL, and I've had success with Asphostportal—they even support Let's Encrypt, making installation a breeze through their control panel!
Thanks for clarifying! Since max1.com is the troubled site and max2.com is fine, I'll look into Let's Encrypt for a free cert. GoDaddy's prices are way too high!