Vista Laptop hangs when attempting to install/request certificate

I originally posted this to m.p.w.v.general

I'm hoping someone out there can help me troubleshoot this weird issue.

We recently switched our two developer laptops to Vista Business with
SP1, on an Windows Server 2003 Active Directory domain. We're getting
ready to roll out some new software to our users and need to 'sign' the
binaries. On my Vista laptop I went to
and got a message about Web Install for certificates needing an update
on the server to support Vista and Server 2008 clients.

So, on the server I installed KB922706. On my laptop, I went back to
and started the process of requesting a
certificate. I got an error saying I Need to access it over SSL for
Vista or Server 2008. So I enabled SSL on the server. I was then able
to go to and request/install a Code
Signing certificate on my laptop. Yay. Now for the issue...

My boss, who is our head developer, could not go through the process.
His Internet Explorer would completely lock up when he got to the point
where you tell it they type of certificate you want to request. After
trying several things in IE (thinking it was an IE issue) we loaded up
the Certificate Management mmc console.

We loaded up certificate management for the current user and branched
out the "Personal" container. Went to "All Tasks" and "Request New
Certificate". The "Certificate Enrollment" window opens, and it hangs
with the spinny blue circle when we click "Next"... though we are able
to click "Cancel" later.

I'm unsure how to proceed in troubleshooting this. I don't see anything
obvious in the event log.

PLEASE HELP!

-Chris