I have a p12 file, 'test.p12,' that has a certificate, the CA cert (self-signed), and private key for the certificate. The p12 file is generated using the BouncyCastle's C# API.
When trying to import the certificate by using 'CertUtil', i.e., 'CertUtil -f -p password -importpfx test.p12,' CertUtil generates the following error:
CertUtil: -importPFX command FAILED: 0x80090016 (-2146893802 NTE_BAD_KEYSET)
CertUtil: Keyset does not exist
Any clues as to what may be wrong? (I'm using Windows 10)
Using openssl, I can see that 'test.p12' does include the certificate, CA cert, and private key. The certificate is using an EC keypair, but I doubt that's a problem since I have a reference p12 file that uses the same algorithm and is imported by CertUtil without problem. Unfortunately, I have no detail on how the reference file is generated.
In my google searches, many seem to suggest that this may be a permission problem, but I doubt that's the case as I'm running the CertUtil as the Administrator.
When importing the same file using 'MMC' with the certificate snap-ins, the certificate is "successfully" imported if I force the MMC to store it in a specific store, e.g., Personal; otherwise, it prompts to select a Smart Card for the certificate. Could this be a related problem?
Thanks,
--Hyong
I am trying to setup my dart http server to run only with https. So I gather I need to use HttpServer.bindSecure but I'm not clear from the description what needs to be passed in as certificateName and whether requestClientCertificate being true makes it more or less secure, or has no impact on security what so ever. The small sample code at the top of the HttpServer page passes in certificateName: 'localhost_cert' but before that it does something with a database, but doesn't seem to use it in anyway. Can anyone explain in more detail what these values are and what they need to be in order to make them secure?
The requestClientCertificate parameter of bindSecure is used to specify a client certificate. Client certificates are used by servers to identify and authorize clients, which appears not to be the objective of this question. It should be noted that there is a known issue with using client certificates in Dart on IE9 and Windows 7.
The certificateName parameter is used to specify the nickname of a certificate that exists in your certificate database. You specify the certificate nickname using the -n <nickname> option when importing a certificate to your database using certutil.
Use the following steps to:
Install the NSS utility (including certutil),
Create a new certificate database in directory <dir> with a password <password>, and
Import your self-signed or purchased certificate identified by nickname <host> such that it can be used to create an HTTPS server using the following sample code. Though the nickname can be chosen arbitrarily, we use the host name in this example. These steps have been confirmed working in Ubuntu 14.04 and Dart SDK 1.6 through (currently last stable version) 1.8.3.
Install the NSS utility
sudo apt-get install libnss3-tools
cd to the directory that will contain your certificate database
cd <dir>
Create a password file to use with the certificate database:
echo "<password>" > pwdfile
Create the certificate database
certutil -N -d 'sql:./' -f pwdfile
Either:
Generate a self-signed certificate:
certutil -S -s "cn=<host>" -n "self signed for dart" -x -t "C,C,C" -m 1000 -v 120 -d "sql:./" -k rsa -g 2048 -f pwdfile
where <host> is the host ("common name") for which to generate a certificate, for example "localhost"
Or, purchase a certificate by first creating a signing request for a real domain <host>, for example "myhost.com":
certutil -R -s "CN=<host>, O=None, L=San Diego, ST=California, C=US" -a -g 2048 -o <host>.csr -d "sql:./"
Then specify the content of file <host>.csr when prompted for a CSR upon purchasing a certificate from a signing authority.
Copy the purchased certificate to a file named <host>.crt
Import the certificate to the database
certutil -A -n <host> -t "p,p,p" -i <host>.crt -d "sql:./"
If necessary to use an intermediate certificate, it can be imported as such:
certutil -A -n my_intermediate_certificate -t "p,p,p" -i intermediate.crt -d "sql:./"
where "intermediate.crt" is the intermediate certificate file downloaded from the signing authority.
Verify that the certificates exist in the database
certutil -L -n <host> -d "sql:./"
certutil -L -n my_intermediate_certificate -d "sql:./"
To use this certificate and create an HTTPS server, do the following:
// Initialize secure socket to use certificate database (note: replace `<dir>`
// with the absolute path to the certificate database directory, and `<password>`
// with the value chosen above)
SecureSocket.initialize(database: "<dir>", password: "<password>");
// Bind secure HTTP server to specified host and port (typically 443)
HttpServer.bindSecure("<host>", 443, certificateName: "<host>")
.then((HttpServer httpServer) {
// Listen for incoming requests
httpServer.listen((HttpRequest httpRequest) {
// TODO: process request
});
})
.catchError((error) {
// TODO: handle error
});
Update
I don't have enough reputation points to respond to the comments, so here are additional details that may help answer the questions: Client certificates are not used to encrypt client-server communication and are not needed in the common scenario of establishing secure communication between a web browser and a webserver via HTTPS. The steps outlined above show how to create an HTTPS server in Dart using bindSecure.
I want to import a pfx using cmd. I am using certutils for that. But I am getting a prompt asking to trust the certificate. I want to automatize import so I want to skip the warning prompt. How can I accomplish that?
I am using command
certutil -f -user -p PASSWORD -importpfx c:\cert.pfx
The reason you got a prompt dialog is that you are trying to add a "CA certificate" into the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store. In fact, when you use "certutil -f -user -p PASSWORD -importpfx c:\cert.pfx" to import a PFX certificate, two actions happen:
Add a personal certificate(which includes the private key) into the "Personal" store.
Add a CA certificate into the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store.
It is the second action that cause the UAC to prompt a warning dialog, since you are trying to add one CA certificate into the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store and this means that any web host that holds this certicate will be trusted in the future, this is a very important action and should be treated very discreetly by the user, shouldn't it? So the UAC will warn the user to comfirm this action.
There is only one way to suppress the warning dialog, that is "you don't add the CA certificate into the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store by doing so:
certutil -f -user -p PASSWORD -importpfx c:\cert.pfx NoRoot
Add personal certificate into "Personal" store will not prompt any warning dialog. However, by this way, the web host that holds the CA certificate will not be trusted any more and this can be very frustrating if you use HTTPS to access the web host.
I need .pfx file to install https on website on IIS.
I have two separate files: certificate (.cer or pem) and private key (.crt) but IIS accepts only .pfx files.
I obviously installed certificate and it is available in certificate manager (mmc) but when I select Certificate Export Wizard I cannot select PFX format (it's greyed out)
Are there any tools to do that or C# examples of doing that programtically?
You will need to use openssl.
openssl pkcs12 -export -out domain.name.pfx -inkey domain.name.key -in domain.name.crt
The key file is just a text file with your private key in it.
If you have a root CA and intermediate certs, then include them as well using multiple -in params
openssl pkcs12 -export -out domain.name.pfx -inkey domain.name.key -in domain.name.crt -in intermediate.crt -in rootca.crt
If you have a bundled crt file that you use, for example, with nginx, you can pass that in along with the cert all in one:
cat domain.name.crt | tee -a domain.name.bundled.crt
cat intermediate.crt | tee -a domain.name.bundled.crt
cat rootca.crt | tee -a domain.name.bundled.crt
openssl pkcs12 -export -out domain.name.pfx \
-inkey domain.name.key \
-in domain.name.bundled.crt
You can install openssl from here: openssl
If you're looking for a Windows GUI, check out DigiCert. I just used this and it was fairly simple.
Under the SSL tab, I first Imported the Certificate. Then once I selected the Certificate I was able to export as a PFX, both with and without a keyfile.
https://www.digicert.com/util
The Microsoft Pvk2Pfx command line utility seems to have the functionality you need:
Pvk2Pfx (Pvk2Pfx.exe) is a command-line tool copies public key and private key information contained in .spc, .cer, and .pvk files to a Personal Information Exchange (.pfx) file.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff550672(v=vs.85).aspx
Note: if you need/want/prefer a C# solution, then you may want to consider using the http://www.bouncycastle.org/ api.
You do NOT need openssl or makecert or any of that. You also don't need the personal key given to you by your CA. I can almost guarantee that the problem is that you expect to be able to use the key and cer files provided by your CA but they aren't based on "the IIS way".
SSL Certs for IIS with PFX once and for all - SSL and IIS Explained - http://rainabba.blogspot.com/2014/03/ssl-certs-for-iis-with-pfx-once-and-for.html
Use IIS "Server Certificates" UI to "Generate Certificate Request" (the details of this request are out of the scope of this article but those details are critical). This will give you a CSR prepped for IIS. You then give that CSR to your CA and ask for a certificate. Then you take the CER/CRT file they give you, go back to IIS, "Complete Certificate Request" in the same place you generated the request. It may ask for a .CER and you might have a .CRT. They are the same thing. Just change the extension or use the . extension drop-down to select your .CRT. Now provide a proper "friendly name" (*.yourdomain.example, yourdomain.example, foo.yourdomain.example, etc..) THIS IS IMPORTANT! This MUST match what you setup the CSR for and what your CA provided you. If you asked for a wildcard, your CA must have approved and generated a wildcard and you must use the same. If your CSR was generated for foo.yourdomain.example, you MUST provide the same at this step.
Solution for Windows that doesn't require OpenSSL installed
I recently was trying to solve the same issue - and I only had a windows laptop with no openssl installed (and no enough admin rights to install it). Turns out windows has built-in utility called certutil that is capable of combining .crt and .key files into .pfx. Docs are here.
You need to create a new folder and place you .crt and key files in it. Rename both files to have the same name (but different extension):
{{sitename}}.crt
{{siteName}}.key
In case your key file is a regular txt - just change extension to .key.
After that open cmd in that folder and run certutil -mergepfx [INPUTFILE] [OUTPUTFILE]
Example:
certificate file: mySite.crt
key file: mySite.key
certutil command: certutil -mergepfx mySite.crt mySite.pfx
Note: you will be asked to provide password for newly created .pfx file - don't forget to memorise/store it - as it will be required during certificate import on the target system.
I created .pfx file from .key and .pem files.
Like this openssl pkcs12 -inkey rootCA.key -in rootCA.pem -export -out rootCA.pfx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff699202.aspx
(( relevant quotes from the article are below ))
Next, you have to create the .pfx file that you will use to sign your deployments. Open a Command Prompt window, and type the following command:
PVK2PFX –pvk yourprivatekeyfile.pvk –spc yourcertfile.cer –pfx yourpfxfile.pfx –po yourpfxpassword
where:
pvk - yourprivatekeyfile.pvk is the private key file that you created in step 4.
spc - yourcertfile.cer is the certificate file you created in step 4.
pfx - yourpfxfile.pfx is the name of the .pfx file that will be creating.
po - yourpfxpassword is the password that you want to assign to the .pfx file. You will be prompted for this password when you add the .pfx file to a project in Visual Studio for the first time.
(Optionally (and not for the OP, but for future readers), you can create the .cer and .pvk file from scratch) (you would do this BEFORE the above). Note the mm/dd/yyyy are placeholders for start and end dates. see msdn article for full documentation.
makecert -sv yourprivatekeyfile.pvk -n "CN=My Certificate Name" yourcertfile.cer -b mm/dd/yyyy -e mm/dd/yyyy -r
From this links:
https://serverfault.com/a/224127/569310
https://stackoverflow.com/a/49784278/7856894
https://stackoverflow.com/a/17284371/7856894
If you need, use this simple command sequence with OpenSSL to generate filessl.key (SSL certificate key file), and filessl.crt (SSL certificate file):
openssl genrsa 2048 > filessl.key
chmod 400 filessl.key
openssl req -new -x509 -nodes -sha256 -days 365 -key filessl.key -out filessl.crt
Until here you must respond to the interactive form (you can find reference info like req.cnf from this other post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/49784278/7856894)
Then, continue with this last command, which will ask you type the Export Password:
openssl pkcs12 -export -out filessl.pfx -inkey filessl.key -in filessl.crt
Ready, it generated your SSL certificate file in .PFX (or .P12) format: filessl.pfx.
This is BY FAR the easiest way to convert *.cer to *.pfx files:
Just download the portable certificate converter from DigiCert:
https://www.digicert.com/util/pfx-certificate-management-utility-import-export-instructions.htm
Execute it, select a file and get your *.pfx!!
You need to use the makecert tool.
Open a command prompt as admin and type the following:
makecert -sky exchange -r -n "CN=<CertificateName>" -pe -a sha1 -len 2048 -ss My "<CertificateName>.cer"
Where <CertifcateName> = the name of your cert to create.
Then you can open the Certificate Manager snap-in for the management console by typing certmgr.msc in the Start menu, click personal > certificates > and your cert should be available.
Here is an article.
https://azure.microsoft.com/documentation/articles/cloud-services-certs-create/
I got a link with your requirement.Combine CRT and KEY Files into a PFX with OpenSSL
Extracts from the above link:
First we need to extract the root CA certificate from the existing
.crt file, because we need this later. So open up the .crt and click
on the Certification Path tab.
Click the topmost certificate (In this case VeriSign) and hit View
Certificate. Select the Details tab and hit Copy to File…
Select Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER) certificate Save it as rootca.cer
or something similar. Place it in the same folder as the other files.
Rename it from rootca.cer to rootca.crt Now we should have 3 files in
our folder from which we can create a PFX file.
Here is where we need OpenSSL. We can either download and install it
on Windows, or simply open terminal on OSX.
EDIT:
There is a support link with step by step information on how to do install the certificate.
After successfully install, export the certificate, choose .pfx format, include private key.
Important Note: : To export the certificate in .pfx format you need to follow the steps on the same machine from which you have requested the certificate.
The imported file can be uploaded to server.
When you say the certificate is available in MMC, is it available under "Current User" or "Local Computer"? I've found that I can only export the private key if it is under Local Computer.
You can add the snap in for Certificates to MMC and choose which account it should manage certificates for. Choose Local Computer. If your certificate is not there, import it by right clicking the store and choosing All Tasks > Import.
Now navigate to your imported certificate under the Local Computer version of the certificate snap in. Right click the certificate and choose All Tasks > Export. The second page of the export wizard should ask if you want to export the private key. Select Yes. The PFX option will now be the only one available (it is grayed out if you select no and the option to export the private key isn't available under the Current User account).
You'll be asked to set a password for the PFX file and then to set the certificate name.
I was trying openssl on macbook with libreSSL v2.8.3 and was getting error "No certificate matches private key". I had one domain cert, 2 intermediates and 1 root cert. So I used following command which worked successfully:
openssl pkcs12 -export -clcerts -inkey private.csr.key -in domain.name.crt -certfile intermediate1.crt -certfile intermediate2.crt -certfile root.crt -out domain.name.p12 -name "Your Name"
It will ask for a password that will be used during import. This command will generate a .p12 file which can be renamed to .pfx as both are same.
I was having the same issue. My problem was that the computer that generated the initial certificate request had crashed before the extended ssl validation process was completed. I needed to generate a new private key and then import the updated certificate from the certificate provider. If the private key doesn't exist on your computer then you can't export the certificate as pfx. They option is greyed out.
I would like to promote the "X certificate and key manager" or xca.exe, it's like a GUI version of OpenSSL. With that you can generate the pfx file by the following steps:
Import private key in the "Private Keys" tab;
Import the certificate in the "Certificates" tab;
Generate the pfx file by selecting the certificate and then "Export", select PKCS #12 as the format.
That's it.
In most of the cases, if you are unable to export the certificate as a PFX (including the private key) is because MMC/IIS cannot find/don't have access to the private key (used to generate the CSR). These are the steps I followed to fix this issue:
Run MMC as Admin
Generate the CSR using MMC. Follow this instructions to make the certificate exportable.
Once you get the certificate from the CA (crt + p7b), import them (Personal\Certificates, and Intermediate Certification Authority\Certificates)
IMPORTANT: Right-click your new certificate (Personal\Certificates) All Tasks..Manage Private Key, and assign permissions to your account or Everyone (risky!). You can go back to previous permissions once you have finished.
Now, right-click the certificate and select All Tasks..Export, and you should be able to export the certificate including the private key as a PFX file, and you can upload it to Azure!
Hope this helps!
I've written a small console app which converts a PEM certificate file and a private key file to one .pfx PKCS12 certificate file.
It uses BouncyCastle library.
My Github repo: https://github.com/nklkli/PEM-to-PKCS12
Feel free to modify the code to create password protected *.pfx.
openssl pkcs12 -export -in certificate.cer -inkey privateKey.key -out certificate.pfx