Move a Korean 공동인증서 between phone and PC

At a glance

• The receiving device shows the holder’s name and the expiry date before you approve.
• The certificate password is never sent.
• On Windows it is installed into AppData\LocalLow\NPKI, where Korean banking and government sites look for it.
• No certificate is ever stored on a server.

Step by step

1. 1

   Allow certificates on the receiving device

   Receiving on the phone: open the PC › Permissions and turn on Send certificates here. Receiving on a PC: set Certificate move to Allow for the sender.

2. 2

   Find the certificate on the PC

   Open the device and go to Move 공동인증서 › Find certificates on this PC. Pick the certificate by name and expiry date.

3. 3

   Send and approve

   Click Send to …. The PC shows “Waiting for approval”; on the receiving device check the name and expiry date, then approve.

4. 4

   Carry it to another PC

   On the phone tap Certificates, pick one and tap Send to PC. After approval it is installed in that PC’s NPKI folder.

What is a 공동인증서?

A 공동인증서 (joint certificate, formerly called 공인인증서, “accredited certificate”) is the digital certificate people in Korea use with banking and government websites. It consists of a certificate file and a private key file, stored in a folder called NPKI. Moving it to a new device has usually meant a USB stick or an export code; here it goes straight from one of your devices to the other.

Where the certificate ends up

• Windows: AppData\LocalLow\NPKI in your user folder.
• Android: the app keeps it in its own protected storage so you can carry it to another PC. Other apps on the phone can’t use it from there.
• Nothing is uploaded: the certificate never touches a server.

Questions