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Benjamin
Benjamin
Level 2.0: Eclair
June 16, 2026
Question

Problem connecting a BYOD smartphone to a corporate Wi-Fi network with a certificate

  • June 16, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 154 views
Hello,I'm trying to configure a corporate Wi-Fi network with certificate-based authentication.The connection works fine on an Android smartphone enrolled in Intune in COPE mode, but I can't get it to work on a smartphone enrolled in BYOD mode.I have a fleet of Samsung smartphones, both COPE and BYOD.The certificate is installed on the BYOD smartphones via an Intune PKCS profile, and I followed the recommendations (user-type certificate, Subject name = CN={{UserPrincipalName}}, and adding the SAN: User principal name (UPN) = {{UserPrincipalName}}, I published the CA that issued the certificate).The certificate is correctly installed on the BYOD smartphone and visible in the work profile, but the Wi-Fi connection fails.When I check the Wi-Fi configuration on the BYOD smartphone, there's no client certificate, which can explain the connection failure.Has anyone successfully configured a corporate Wi-Fi network with certificate authentication on a smartphone enrolled in BYOD mode on Intune?

    5 replies

    Kirk
    KirkCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 16, 2026

    Hi Benjamin, 

    Welcome to the community!

    It sounds like you’ve clearly already done the legwork here, the configuration sounds right (to my knowledge) and you've pinpointed exactly where it's breaking down.
     

    One thing worth checking, if you haven't already: is the Wi-Fi profile in Intune directly referencing the PKCS certificate profile, rather than the certificate just being deployed separately? That's a step that's easy to miss and would explain why no client certificate is showing up in the Wi-Fi config.
     

    That said, this does sound like it could be a known difference in how COPE and BYOD handle certain features in Android Enterprise, so if anyone in the community has hit this same wall and found a way through, we'd love to hear it.
     

    Cheers,
    Kirk

      Benjamin
      BenjaminAuthor
      Level 2.0: Eclair
      June 17, 2026

      Hi Kirk, 

      I have correctly configured the PKCS profile which installs the certificate in the Client Authentication setting of the Wifi profile.

      Rakib
      Rakib
      Level 3.0: Honeycomb
      June 16, 2026

      Remember you need two separate config profiles, one for BYOD and one for COPE. We have working wifi even for dedicated devices but are using device certificate.

      Benjamin
      BenjaminAuthor
      Level 2.0: Eclair
      June 17, 2026

      Hi Rakib,

      Indeed, in Intune, the profiles are different for BYOD and COPE, fully managed and dedicated.

      I have created Wi-Fi, PKCS, and trusted certificate profiles for the BYOD devices.

      Benjamin
      BenjaminAuthor
      Level 2.0: Eclair
      August 3, 2026

      Hello everyone,

      I opened a support ticket with Microsoft, and since everything is correctly installed on the smartphone (certificates, Wi-Fi profile), they informed me that the issue does not stem from Intune.

      However, I still cannot connect to the Wi-Fi.

      So, I am asking again: has anyone successfully connected a BYOD-enrolled smartphone to a corporate Wi-Fi network using certificate-based authentication?

      Thanks in advance for your replies.

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