# Deleted certs cause letsencrypt to fail

**URL:** <https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [December 12, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781 "2015-12-12T07:08:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![encor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/258eb7/32.png) [@encor](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/encor)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781/1 "2015-12-12T07:08:06Z")

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let me first begin by saying i was not intending to delete the certs but ended up deleting them.  
anyway, without the certs i cannot issue certs for this domain or use the certs that existed. i cannot revoke them either since it requires the cert to delete.

interestingly, this also causes the client to fail:

2015-12-12 06:56:57,741:DEBUG:letsencrypt.storage:Expected symlink /etc/letsencrypt/live//cert.pem for cert does not exist.  
2015-12-12 06:56:57,742:DEBUG:letsencrypt.cli:Exiting abnormally:  
Traceback (most recent call last):  
File “/usr/bin/letsencrypt”, line 9, in   
load\_entry\_point(‘letsencrypt==0.1.0’, ‘console\_scripts’, ‘letsencrypt’)()  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/cli.py”, line 1283, in main  
return args.func(args, config, plugins)  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/cli.py”, line 512, in obtain\_cert  
\_auth\_from\_domains(le\_client, config, domains)  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/cli.py”, line 318, in \_auth\_from\_domains  
lineage = \_treat\_as\_renewal(config, domains)  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/cli.py”, line 230, in \_treat\_as\_renewal  
config, domains)  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/cli.py”, line 204, in \_find\_duplicative\_certs  
candidate\_names = set(candidate\_lineage.names())  
File “/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/letsencrypt/storage.py”, line 459, in names  
with open(target) as f:  
TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, NoneType found

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**Author:** ![serverco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/serverco/32/4251_2.png) [@serverco](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/serverco)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781/2 "2015-12-12T09:23:08Z")

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probably worth reinstalling the LE script and clearing the /etc/letsencrypt folder as if starting from scratch.

I’d also then make sure you test with the test server, so you don’t hit the rate limits.

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**Author:** ![encor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/258eb7/32.png) [@encor](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/encor)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781/3 "2015-12-12T18:21:28Z")

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presume this is [Testing Against the Let's Encrypt Staging Environment](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/testing-against-the-lets-encrypt-staging-environment/6763) the test server.

i will try to clear it out and start over although i already it the rate limit trying to fix this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![serverco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/serverco/32/4251_2.png) [@serverco](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/serverco)\
**Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/deleted-certs-cause-letsencrypt-to-fail/6781/4 "2015-12-12T18:38:38Z")

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Yes, that’s the test ( staging) server.

It doesn’t have the same limits, so is good for testing ( although the certificates are not recognised by browsers as trusted by default). They’re good for test purposes though.