PREPPER BUDDY — PERSONAL VAULT SETUP AND WALKTHROUGH Saved instructions. Certificate setup is needed separately on each client device. START HERE 1. Power on Prepper Buddy. Join its Prepper Buddy Wi-Fi network; choose to stay connected if your phone says the network has no internet. 2. Open http://10.42.0.1/ in your browser and choose Personal Vault. The shared library and the secure vault have separate addresses. 3. Complete certificate setup once on each phone or computer you use. Download the certificate or profile from your own unit, rather than from the public website. 4. Open Personal Vault at its HTTPS address, https://10.42.0.1:4177/. Verify the secure connection before entering a vault password. 5. Choose your own password of at least 12 characters. Confirm it and acknowledge that there is no password reset. Keep the password separately from your encrypted backup. 6. Add documents or private notes. Use Export encrypted backup after adding important items, and keep the backup somewhere you can recover it. 7. Lock the vault when finished. It also locks when the page is hidden or after five idle minutes. Windows · Chrome or Edge 1. From your own Prepper Buddy’s Personal Vault setup page, download its local certificate. Check its SHA-256 fingerprint against your trusted record for that unit. 2. Open the downloaded .crt file and choose Install Certificate. Select Current User, then Next. 3. Choose Place all certificates in the following store. Select Browse, then Trusted Root Certification Authorities, then OK. 4. Choose Next and Finish. Complete the Windows trust confirmation only for the certificate you verified. 5. Close all Chrome or Edge windows and reopen the browser. Return to your Prepper Buddy and open Personal Vault. 6. Check the site-information button beside the vault address. Chrome should say Connection is secure. Create your vault password, or unlock your existing vault. Android · Chrome 1. Download the local certificate from your own Prepper Buddy’s Personal Vault setup page and verify its fingerprint against your trusted unit record. 2. Open your phone’s Settings and search for Install a certificate. On many phones this is under Security & privacy, More security settings, then Encryption & credentials. Menu names vary. 3. Choose the CA certificate option and select the downloaded Prepper Buddy .crt file. This is certificate trust for the vault; the Wi-Fi certificate option is a different setting. 4. Complete the phone’s confirmation for your verified certificate. Your phone may require its screen-lock PIN or password. 5. Reopen Chrome, reconnect to Prepper Buddy if necessary, and open Personal Vault. If the browser still reports a certificate error, check the device date and the trust setup before proceeding. iPhone or iPad · Safari 1. Open your own Prepper Buddy’s Personal Vault setup page in Safari. Verify the certificate fingerprint against your trusted unit record, then download the iPhone profile. 2. Open Settings, General, then VPN & Device Management. Select the downloaded Prepper Buddy profile and install it. Complete your device’s confirmation. 3. Open Settings, General, About, then Certificate Trust Settings. Under Enable full trust for root certificates, enable trust for this Prepper Buddy’s verified certificate. 4. Return to Safari and open Personal Vault. Installing the profile and enabling full certificate trust are two separate steps. 5. This profile contains the local certificate. It does not enroll your phone in device management. Mac · Safari or Chrome 1. Download the local certificate from your own Prepper Buddy’s Personal Vault setup page and verify its fingerprint against your trusted unit record. 2. Open Keychain Access and import the certificate into your login keychain. 3. Open the imported certificate, expand Trust and allow its SSL trust. Complete the Mac’s confirmation for this verified certificate. 4. Quit and reopen your browser, then open Personal Vault from your Prepper Buddy. If it still reports a certificate error, check the device date and certificate trust before continuing. TROUBLESHOOTING I installed the certificate, but Chrome still says Not secure. Fully close the browser and reopen it. During our Windows test, Chrome kept an earlier certificate-error state until a full restart. Reopening a tab was not enough. Check the secure vault address again; do not clear browser storage to fix this, because that can remove the vault. The normal library page still says Not secure. The normal local library uses HTTP. Personal Vault opens at a separate HTTPS address ending in :4177. Check the connection on that vault page. If the vault itself reports a certificate error, finish its trust setup before using it. My phone says this Wi-Fi has no internet. That is expected for the offline library. Choose the phone’s option to stay connected or use this network anyway, then type the local library address into the browser. The saved video and these instructions do not need outside internet. Where are my private documents saved? Personal Vault encrypts records in this browser on this phone or computer. It does not synchronize them onto the Pi or another device. Keep encrypted backups before changing devices or clearing browser data. Shared on the Pi is a separate, unencrypted shared shelf. How do I restore a backup? Choose Restore a backup, select your exported Prepper Buddy backup and enter the password that protected it when it was exported. Restoring replaces this browser’s current vault, so export anything you need to keep first. A forgotten password cannot be reset. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00.000 Connect to your Buddy. Power on Prepper Buddy. Join its Prepper Buddy Wi-Fi. Choose to stay connected if it says no internet. Open http://10.42.0.1/ in your browser. 00:00:10.000 Open Personal Vault. Compare your unit’s certificate fingerprint with your trusted record for that unit. Download the certificate or iPhone profile from your own Prepper Buddy’s setup page. 00:00:20.000 Install your unit’s certificate. Open the .crt file. Choose Install Certificate. Select Current User, then Next. Choose Place all certificates in the following store. Browse to Trusted Root Certification Authorities. Choose OK, Next, then Finish. 00:00:30.000 Restart the browser. Finish Windows’ confirmation for your verified certificate. Close every Chrome or Edge window, then reopen the browser and vault. The vault’s site information should say: Connection is secure. 00:00:40.000 Find certificate settings. Download your unit’s verified .crt file. In phone Settings, search Install a certificate. On many phones: Security & privacy → More security settings → Encryption & credentials. Menu names vary by phone and version. 00:00:50.000 Choose CA certificate. Choose the CA certificate option. Select your downloaded Prepper Buddy file. Finish the phone’s trust confirmation. Reopen Chrome and open Personal Vault. Stop if the vault still has a certificate error. 00:01:00.000 Install the local profile. Download the iPhone profile from your Buddy. Open Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. Choose the downloaded Prepper Buddy profile and finish its installation. 00:01:10.000 Enable certificate trust. Open Settings → General → About → Certificate Trust Settings. Enable full trust for this unit’s certificate. Return to Safari and open Personal Vault. Profile installation and trust are separate steps. 00:01:20.000 Use your login keychain. Download and verify your unit’s certificate. Import it into your login keychain in Keychain Access. Open the certificate, expand Trust, and allow SSL trust. Quit and reopen your browser, then open the vault. 00:01:30.000 A password only you know. Connect to Prepper Buddy Wi-Fi. Open the HTTPS vault address. On first use, create a long password. Later, enter it here to unlock. 00:01:37.000 Documents. Private notes. Add a document from your device or write a private note. Names and contents are encrypted before they are saved. 00:01:44.000 Visible while unlocked. Open a saved document to read it. Private notes can be searched while the vault is unlocked. Keep your original documents. 00:01:51.000 Your recovery plan. Export an encrypted backup. Keep its password separately. To recover, choose the backup and enter its original password. 00:01:58.000 Verified before restoring. The app checks the password and encrypted backup before replacing this browser's vault. 00:02:05.000 Keep private things private. Use Lock vault when finished. It also locks when the page is hidden or after five idle minutes. Unlock again with your password. REFERENCE SOURCES Apple: manually installed certificate profiles: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102390 Google: Android certificate settings: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/2844832?hl=en Apple: certificate trust in Keychain Access: https://support.apple.com/guide/keychain-access/change-the-trust-settings-of-a-certificate-kyca11871/mac The instructions above are saved locally. Online reference links are not needed to use this guide.