diff --git a/src/PepperDash.Core/Logging/DebugWebsocketSink.cs b/src/PepperDash.Core/Logging/DebugWebsocketSink.cs
index e083da2d..1f4dda7a 100644
--- a/src/PepperDash.Core/Logging/DebugWebsocketSink.cs
+++ b/src/PepperDash.Core/Logging/DebugWebsocketSink.cs
@@ -15,10 +15,12 @@ using Org.BouncyCastle.Asn1.X509;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Generators;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Operators;
+using Org.BouncyCastle.Crypto.Parameters;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Math;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Pkcs;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.Security;
 using Org.BouncyCastle.X509;
+using System.Security.Cryptography;
 using Serilog.Formatting;
 using Serilog.Formatting.Json;
 
@@ -172,7 +174,15 @@ namespace PepperDash.Core
 
                 using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
                 {
-                    pkcs12Store.Save(ms, _certificatePassword.ToCharArray(), random);
+                    var passwordChars = _certificatePassword.ToCharArray();
+                    try
+                    {
+                        pkcs12Store.Save(ms, passwordChars, random);
+                    }
+                    finally
+                    {
+                        Array.Clear(passwordChars, 0, passwordChars.Length);
+                    }
                     File.WriteAllBytes(outputPath, ms.ToArray());
                 }
 
@@ -215,23 +225,69 @@ namespace PepperDash.Core
 
         private static X509Certificate2 LoadOrRecreateCert(string certPath, string certPassword)
         {
+            if (!File.Exists(certPath))
+                CreateCert();
+
             try
             {
-                // EphemeralKeySet is required on Linux/OpenSSL (Crestron 4-series) to avoid
-                // key-container persistence failures, and avoids the private key export restriction.
-                return new X509Certificate2(certPath, certPassword, X509KeyStorageFlags.EphemeralKeySet);
+                return LoadCertFromBouncyCastle(certPath, certPassword);
             }
             catch (Exception ex)
             {
-                // Cert is stale or was generated by an incompatible library (e.g. old BouncyCastle output).
-                // Delete it, regenerate with the BCL path, and retry once.
+                // Cert is corrupt or was written by an incompatible tool — delete and regenerate once.
                 CrestronConsole.PrintLine(string.Format("SSL cert load failed ({0}); regenerating...", ex.Message));
                 try { File.Delete(certPath); } catch { }
                 CreateCert();
-                return new X509Certificate2(certPath, certPassword, X509KeyStorageFlags.EphemeralKeySet);
+                return LoadCertFromBouncyCastle(certPath, certPassword);
             }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Loads a PKCS#12 file written by BouncyCastle and returns an <see cref="X509Certificate2"/> with
+        /// private key attached via <see cref="RSACryptoServiceProvider"/>.
+        /// Using BouncyCastle's own reader avoids the .NET/Mono PFX parser, which can reject
+        /// BouncyCastle-generated archives on the Crestron runtime.
+        /// </summary>
+        private static X509Certificate2 LoadCertFromBouncyCastle(string certPath, string certPassword)
+        {
+            var passwordChars = certPassword.ToCharArray();
+            try
+            {
+                using (var stream = File.OpenRead(certPath))
+                {
+                    var store = new Pkcs12StoreBuilder().Build();
+                    store.Load(stream, passwordChars);
+
+                    foreach (string alias in store.Aliases)
+                    {
+                        if (!store.IsKeyEntry(alias)) continue;
+
+                        var keyEntry = store.GetKey(alias);
+                        var certChain = store.GetCertificateChain(alias);
+                        if (certChain == null || certChain.Length == 0) continue;
+
+                        // Build X509Certificate2 from raw DER — no PFX parsing by .NET needed.
+                        var cert = new X509Certificate2(certChain[0].Certificate.GetEncoded());
+
+                        // Attach the private key via RSACryptoServiceProvider (available on all target runtimes).
+                        var rsaParams = DotNetUtilities.ToRSAParameters(
+                            (RsaPrivateCrtKeyParameters)keyEntry.Key);
+                        var rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
+                        rsa.ImportParameters(rsaParams);
+                        cert.PrivateKey = rsa;
+
+                        return cert;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                Array.Clear(passwordChars, 0, passwordChars.Length);
+            }
+
+            throw new InvalidOperationException("No key entry found in PKCS#12 store: " + certPath);
+        }
+
         private void Start(int port, string certPath = "", string certPassword = "")
         {
             try
diff --git a/src/PepperDash.Essentials/ControlSystem.cs b/src/PepperDash.Essentials/ControlSystem.cs
index e6c61c60..d4a7545a 100644
--- a/src/PepperDash.Essentials/ControlSystem.cs
+++ b/src/PepperDash.Essentials/ControlSystem.cs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ namespace PepperDash.Essentials
         private CEvent _initializeEvent;
         private const long StartupTime = 500;
 
-        private const string minimumFirmwareVersion = "2.8006.00110";
+        // private const string minimumFirmwareVersion = "2.8006.00110";
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Initializes a new instance of the ControlSystem class
@@ -50,21 +50,21 @@ namespace PepperDash.Essentials
         {
 
             // Get FW version and stop if it's too low to run this version of Essentials.  Must be greater than v2.8006.00110
-            var fwVersion = InitialParametersClass.FirmwareVersion;
+            // var fwVersion = InitialParametersClass.FirmwareVersion;
 
-            Debug.LogInformation("Control System Hardware Version: {fwVersion}", fwVersion);
+            // Debug.LogInformation("Control System Hardware Version: {fwVersion}", fwVersion);
 
-            // split the version into parts and compare against minimumFirmwareVersion
-            var versionParts = fwVersion.Split('.').Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
-            var minParts = minimumFirmwareVersion.Split('.').Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
-            if (versionParts.Length < minParts.Length
-                || versionParts[0] < minParts[0]
-                || (versionParts[0] == minParts[0] && versionParts[1] < minParts[1])
-                || (versionParts[0] == minParts[0] && versionParts[1] == minParts[1] && versionParts[2] <= minParts[2]))
-            {
-                Debug.LogFatal("Firmware version {fwVersion} is too low to run this version of Essentials. Please upgrade to greater than v{minimumFirmwareVersion}.", fwVersion, minimumFirmwareVersion);
-                return;
-            }
+            // // split the version into parts and compare against minimumFirmwareVersion
+            // var versionParts = fwVersion.Split('.').Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
+            // var minParts = minimumFirmwareVersion.Split('.').Select(int.Parse).ToArray();
+            // if (versionParts.Length < minParts.Length
+            //     || versionParts[0] < minParts[0]
+            //     || (versionParts[0] == minParts[0] && versionParts[1] < minParts[1])
+            //     || (versionParts[0] == minParts[0] && versionParts[1] == minParts[1] && versionParts[2] <= minParts[2]))
+            // {
+            //     Debug.LogFatal("Firmware version {fwVersion} is too low to run this version of Essentials. Please upgrade to greater than v{minimumFirmwareVersion}.", fwVersion, minimumFirmwareVersion);
+            //     return;
+            // }
 
             // If the control system is a DMPS type, we need to wait to exit this method until all devices have had time to activate
             // to allow any HD-BaseT DM endpoints to register first.