
Emsigner for GST: How to Download emSigner?
Digital signatures are widely accepted by government agencies and statutory organizations for the legal documents. Digital signatures are the most advanced and secure type of e-signature.
These are used to comply with all the necessary legal and regulatory needs as digital signatures affirm every signers identity as well as authenticity of the documents signed by such a person.
The digital signatures make use of certificate based digital ID which is issued to a person by an accredited Certificate Authority (CA).
So, when an individual digitally signs a document, his identity gets specifically linked to such a document with encryption. Thus, these make the digital signature highly secured.
In order to make use of digital signature, you first need to obtain your Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from a registered Certifying Authority.
Once you receive the DSC, you need to install emSigner to sign documents digitally. This article talks about emSigner for GST tool, how to download emSigner for GST and various provisions related to it.
What is emSigner for GST?
emSigner is a utility tool used for signing digitally various GST documents including GST registration application, GST returns, etc on the GST common portal. Such a tool can be downloaded from the GST portal itself. This tool sets the path for quick and secured signing of documents.
Furthermore, the signature placed on all the documents is encrypted, thus ensuring high level of security of your data.
System Requirements for Using DSC
- Desktop Browser
- Internet Explorer 10+ or
- Chrome 49+ or
- Firefox 45+
- Valid class 2 or class 3 Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) obtained from a DSC provider
- Signing documents using DSC is not supported on mobile devices and browsers
Prerequisites for Installing emSigner
- You need to have the following things in order to install emSigner:
- Windows 32 / 64 bit OS
- Java 1.6 JRE 1.6.0_38+, Java 1.7, Java 1.8
- Windows: Admin access to install the emSigner component
- Any one of the following ports should be free
- 1585
- 2095
- 2568
- 2868
- 458
How to install emSigner GST?
- Access GST Portal
Go to GST portal at gst.gov.in. Login to your account using username and password details.
- Select Register/Update DSC
After you login to the GST portal, click the dropdown next to your name at the right hand corner above. From the dropdown, select Register/Update DSC option.
- Read Instructions
Once you click on Register/Update DSC option, the Register Digital Signature Certificate page gets displayed. You need to select “Click Here For Instructions on Installing Signer Utility” link and read the instructions given therein.
- Download Emsigner
Once you click on the instructions link mentioned in the above step your dashboard displays “Document Signer Install” page in a new tab. This page displays the links for emsigner download for different operating systems including MAC, Linux and Windows. You need to select Click here to download link based on your operating system. Once you click the download link, the emSigner.msi file is downloaded on your system.
- Click the emSigner File
The moment you click on the requisite download link, emSigner.msi executable file gets displayed on your PC. You need to double click the file to open the same.
- Display of emSigner Setup
Once you click on the emSigner.msi executable file, the emSigner Setup Assistant Wizard is displayed on your screen. You need to click Next button to continue with the installation process.
- Select the Folder
After you click the Next button as mentioned in the previous step, the emSigner setup displays the default installation folder where the emSigner will be installed. In case you want to install the emSigner to a different folder other than the default one, you need to click Browse button, navigate and select the requisite folder where you want to install emSigner. Once you select the requisite folder, click the Next button to continue.
- Ready to Install
After you choose the requisite folder for installing emSigner and click the Next button, the emSigner Setup Page gets displayed. Such a page proclaims that the setup wizard is ready to start with the emSigner installation. Therefore, to begin installation, you need to click the Install button. However, if you wish to change or review any of your installation settings click back button. And if you want to exit the wizard, simply select the Cancel button.
- Click Finish
If you click the install button to begin installation of emSigner, the setup wizard starts installing emSigner on your system. This may take several minutes. Once the installation is complete, you need to click the Finish button to exit the setup wizard.
- Run emSigner as Administrator
Once the emSigner installation gets completed, the emSigner icon is placed on your desktop from where you can access the emSigner each time. Right click on emSigner icon placed on your desktop and the select Run as Administrator option as shown in the image below.
- Display of Success Message
After you run emSigner as an administrator on your system, a message indicating start of the emSigner service gets displayed. You need to click ok button to continue. Once the emSigner setup starts running successfully, the digital signature signer window gets displayed.
Emsigner for GST error
While using emSigner, there are certain issues that you might face. Following are the errors you may face while registering or signing DSC on the GST portal.
- Sorry! Digital Signature Certificate Missing. Please Plugin the Token and Click on Process to Proceed with Signing
In case you face the error as shown in the image below, you need to ensure that the DSC is installed or the token is plugged into your system. Thus, you need to click on the ok button. Then, install the DSC or plug the token into your system.
However, if the DSC is still plugged in and you face the above challenge, you need to follow the below steps. But first it is important to note that you need to uninstall the emSigner before installing any new emSigner.
Then follow the below steps in order to check your DSC certificate. It should be Digital Signature, Non-Repudiation. If it is Key Encipherment please remove this Certificate from windows store.
Step 1 – Go to internet explorer (press alt – X).
Step 2 – Go to internet options content tab
Step 3 – Click the certificates button and select your DSC certificate. Then click the view button.
Step 4 – Click the details tab of your certificate. Then scroll down and go to key usage.
- Failed to Establish Connection to the Server. Kindly Restart the emSigner
If you get this error while registering or signing DSC on the GST portal, you need to check whether the emSigner is started or not. There can be two possibilities.
If the emSigner server is already started, you need to stop the server and start the emSigner server as Run as Administrator.
However, if the emSigner server is not started, then you need to start the emSigner server as Run as Administrator.
- This Application Requires a Java Run Time Environment 1.6.0
The other error that you might face while starting the emSigner server pertains to the fact that the emSigner application requires a Java run time requirement 1.6.0. In case you face this error, you need to install the Java(jre) in your system.
For this, you need to click the “ok” button as shown in the following image. Once you click the “ok” button, you will be redirected to a screen where you can download or install the correct Java version.
- PAN Verification Failed. Please Select the Valid Certificate to Sign
In case you get the above message, while uploading DSC portal, you need to check the PAN details in DSC.
In order to do this, click the ok button as shown in the image below. Then enter correct PAN details or verify the details with vendor providing GST.
- Selected Certificate is Not a PAN Based Certificate, Please Select the Valid Certificate to Sign.
In case you face the above error, you need to check the DSC as the DSC you are trying to register is not PAN based. To resolve this issue, click the ok button , as shown in the image below. Then, you need to get a PAN based class 2 or class 3 DSC and get it registered on the GST portal.
- The DSC You are Trying to Affix is not Registered at the Portal.
There might be a case that you face the error mentioned above. In such a case you need to ensure that the DSC is registered on the GST portal. To check whether DSC is registered or not, go to your dashboard and then click Register/Update DSC tab. The you need to register DSC at the GST portal.
- Challenges Faced While Opening Websocket in any Browser. What Should I do?
In case you face issues while opening the websocket installer in any of the browsers, you should follow the below steps:
- Add the url – https://127.0.0.1:portNo (port on which server is started Eg: https://127.0.0.1:1585). in browser address bar and press the Enter key.
- You will be prompted to add the certificate to exception site list. Click the Add Exception button. Check Port on which server is started. Ensure that the port number is matching with emSigner port description.
In order to check the version of emSigner, go to control panel program and features. In case the emSigner version is 1.2, you need to uninstall this version and then install emSignerv2.6.
In case your browser is firefox, you need to perform the above steps manually.
- Type the URL https://127.0.0.1:1585 in Mozilla Firefox browser.
- Then click the advanced button.
- After this click the Add Exception button.
- Finally, confirm security exception button.
- EmSigner Installer is not Visible
While uploading the DSC on the portal there can be a case that the emSigner installer is not visible as shown in the image below. In such a case, you need to start the emSigner. In order to do so, click emSigner icon in the task bar. If the installer is already open, it will be visible. Otherwise, you will have to restart the emSigner server.
- How to Install emSigner on mac
- Download Web Socket installer for Macintosh OS
- Unzip the downloaded folder.
- Open shellscript and navigate to the downloaded folder
- Execute ./startserver.sh command
- If emSigner is started successfully, below message is displayed. Click the OK button.
- In task bar, emSigner icon will be created and you can can see the status of the emSigner server.