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Verify domain ownership (HTML or DNS) for my SSL certificate

Updated Apr 21st at 14:00 BST

Note: We do not follow redirects when we validate your domain ownership.

When requesting an SSL certificate, we will require you to verify that you control the domain for which you're requesting the certificate. To do this, we provide you one of two options:

MethodHow it works
HTML pageUpload an HTML page with content we specify to a distinct directory of the website for the common name you're using
DNS recordCreate a TXT record we specify in your domain name's zone (DNS) file

Which type of verification you can use depends on which type of certificate you're requesting:

Certificate TypeHTMLDNS
Standard✓✓
Premium✓✓
Extended Validation✓✓
Wildcard-✓

Click one of the following links for directions based on the information we emailed you.

HTML Page#

You will receive an email from us with a unique identifier, which will be in a line of the email: "Your unique ID for these methods is [uniqueID]."

  1. Use an app like Notepad or TextEdit to create a file named starfield.html.
  2. Copy your unique ID, and only your unique ID, into the file. For example, if your unique ID was 12345, the content of your new .html file would be:
    12345
  3. Create a directory named "/.well-known/pki-validation/" in the highest-level directory of the website for the common name you're using. Usually, this is the website's root directory - for example, a directory named coolexample.com. For more info, see
    . Note: If you are running a Windows server, you will have to name the folder /.well-known./ instead of /.well-known/, or your server won't let you create the folder.
  4. Place the new .html file in the pki-validation directory. For example, after you place the file at that location, the file's URL would be http://coolexample.com/.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html.
  5. Verify that you can access starfield.html in a web browser, and then use the instructions in the To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership section of this article.

If the SSL certificate is for the root domain, the HTML file must be findable at http://coolexample.com/.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html. http://www.coolexample.com/.well-known/pki-validation/starfield.html will not work.

DNS Record#

You will receive an email from us with a TXT value you need to create in your domain name's DNS zone file. Adding this TXT record won't impact your website at all, it's something you can only view through a special tool that performs DNS lookups.

You can only create the TXT record through the company whose nameservers your domain name uses.

Use the following information to create your TXT record:

FieldWhat to enter
Name (Host)Type @ (If your DNS is hosted outside of tsoHost, you may need to leave this blank)
ValueType the entire TXT value we sent you

Once you've created the DNS record, use the instructions in the To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership section of this article.

After uploading the HTML page or creating the TXT record, you need to let us know so we can verify your domain name ownership.

To Verify Your Domain Name Ownership

  1. Go to your tsoHost Client area.
  2. Go to Services → my Services.
  3. Select the exact certificate in product list.
  4. Click "login to Control panel"
  5. Click Check my update.

It can take 5-10 minutes for your verification to complete.