The electronic DNI is a tool that has been with us for more than 10 years and that is incredibly useful when it comes to doing paperwork online very quickly. Thanks to your electronic ID, you will be able to carry out most of the necessary procedures in public administrations from the comfort of your home. We explain how to install and activate electronic certificates to be able to use your electronic ID without problems
Activate the digital certificates of your electronic DNI
The first step is to activate the digital certificates of your DNI. You can do it very easily by visiting the police station closest to your home, there you will see a machine in which you will have to enter the DNI to establish the password for the digital certificates.
This process can only be done in person at a police office, since the machine will verify your identity using your fingerprint . The digital certificates of your DNI expire in a period of 30 months, or when a new DNI is issued.
Install the electronic DNI reading hardware
Once the digital certificates of your electronic ID have been activated, you can now proceed with installing the necessary software on your computer to be able to use it.
You will need an electronic DNI reader , what is the device in which you will enter it to read the information that is stored on the chip. These devices are very inexpensive, you can find them for a price of € 15 and even less.
Using the electronic ID reading device in Windows 10 is very simple, since the operating system will detect it and install all the necessary drivers automatically . To do this, you just have to connect the device to a USB port on your computer.
You may have to enter your electronic ID for the device to start working and Windows 10 can recognize it.
If everything has gone correctly, your electronic ID reading hardware is now ready to go. If the installation was not completed successfully, you will need to use the driver provided by the manufacturer of the device in question. To get it, you just have to visit the official website of the manufacturer, you should find a support section.
Install Java on your computer
All the public administrations of the Spanish State use the Java platform to manage the different certificates and digital signatures through their official portals. Therefore, it is essential to install Java on your computer if you want to use the electronic ID.
You can download the Java installer from the project's official website. Java is completely free software.
Install the electronic DNI validation certificates on your computer
In order to use the electronic DNI on our computer, we must first install the identity validation certificates , which are responsible for verifying that the data issued by the electronic DNI are correct.
What these validation certificates do is check the information that is stored in the chip that is in your electronic ID, and what contains the digital certificates, what it needs to function.
These validation certificates are included within the cryptographic module , which the National Police offers us to be able to use the electronic DNI. You can download it very easily from the official website of the electronic ID.
You should pay attention to the version of your Windows 10 operating system , the installation package is different for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. In any case, if you download the wrong package, the installation process will simply fail, and you will know that you have chosen the wrong package.
When the download is finished, you will be able to proceed with the installation of the package. Installation is very simple, as it is done like any other Windows program. In any case, we leave you a gallery of screenshots to show you the process.
It is recommended to restart the computer at the end of the process to avoid problems.
Import the validation certificates to the browser
The next step is to import the validation certificates that we have installed into our Internet browser so that it can use them. In this case, we will use the Google Chrome browser , because it is the most used, but the process is very similar in other browsers such as Firefox.
To import the certificates to Chrome, we must enter the browser's configuration menu from the button in the form of three dots. Once inside, we use the search engine to find the option to " Manage HTTPS / SSL certificates and settings ".
A window will open in which we can see the different digital certificates that we have installed on our computer. If everything went well, the electronic DNI certificates should have already been integrated with our Chrome browser.
In case they have not been integrated, we can use the " Import " button to integrate them manually.
A small existing one will open in which we will have to enter the path where we have installed the certificates. This is the folder where we have installed the small program that we downloaded in the previous step.
Once the certificates of your electronic DNI are imported manually, you can use it from the comfort of your home. You must restart the browser for them to work properly.
From now on you will be able to use your electronic ID to carry out all kinds of procedures in public administrations via the Internet. As soon as you are going to use it, a small window will appear asking you to enter your security password. This is the password that you will have entered when you activated your electronic ID at the nearest police office.
This is all you need to do to use your electronic ID. Share the post so it can help more users who need it.