Windows 7 systems by default use an obsolete encryption protocol called TLS 1 that is no longer secure. Many service providers are now requiring use of the the more modern TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 protocols to access their servers. Starting on November 12, 2018, Calypso users on Windows 7 may find that the Calypso installer or the "Update Calypso Now" functions generate an "OBSOLETE PROTOCOL" error. This article explains how to fix or prevent this error.
How to Check Your Protocol Version
To check whether TLS 1.2 is enabled on your system, follow these steps:
- Run Windows PowerShell by clicking on the Start button and typing "Powershell" in the search box and hitting Enter.
- Type the following at the PowerShell prompt:
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = "TLS12"
- If the result is nothing then your encryption protocol is up to date and you will not get an "OBSOLETE PROTOCOL" error when you run the Calypso installer or updater.
- If you instead get an error message saying the system is unable to convert "TLS12" to a valid enumerator name, then you do not have TLS 1.2 enabled and you need to take the steps described below.
How to Install Registry Keys to Enable TLS 1.2
Modern versions of PowerShell have TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 installed; they're just disabled by default. To enable them:
- Visit this Microsoft Update Catalog link for Windows update KB3140245 and download the "Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems".
- Double click on the .msu file you downloaded and give permission to update the Windows registry.
- Restart the computer.
After rebooting, try checking the protocol version again by following the steps in the previous section. If TLS12 is recognized as a security protocol, you''re good to go. If not, you may be running too old a version of PowerShell. See the next section.
How to Upgrade PowerShell
You can check your PowerShell version by typing $PSVersionTable in a PowerShell window.
PowerShell is part of the Windows Management Framework (WMF). Really old versions do not contain support for TLS 1.1 or 1.2. To update your Windows 7 computer to a more recent version of PowerShell, such as version 5.1, visit this WMF 5.1 download link from Microsoft and select the Windows 7 64 bit version. Then run the installer that you downloaded. Finally, restart your computer.
After this, your computer should recognize the TLS 1.2 protocol.