Iis – Do I need to receive the private key from VeriSign

httpiisopenssl

I requested a trial certificate from Verisign which I received via email and thus the intermediate and root ones. What I reveived was an PEM certificate, the one with BEGIN and END CERTIFICATE.

I'm using this certificate for https and theres supposed to be a private key for decryption. I generated the CSR file from IIS 8 Windows 2012. The certificate was requested via Google Chrome.

Do IIS have a private key and the CSR is created using this? Where is the private key here?

Regards,

Best Answer

Your private key lives on your server, yes.

I think it lives inside the registry somewhere by default, but can easily export it using Windows' Certificate Management MMC Snapin. This process has essentially been the same since at least Windows Server 2003.

Here is a walkthrough with screen shots: https://www.digicert.com/ssl-support/pfx-import-export-iis-8.htm

Use the following OpenSSL command:

openssl pkcs12 -export -out "output.pfx" -inkey "Unencrypted_Private_Key.pem"
-in  "Issued_Certificate.cer" -certfile CACert.crt

The certificate and key files are just text files with .cer and .pem extensions, respectively.

How to decrypt an encrypted private key:

openssl rsa -in "Encrypted_Private_Key.pem" -out "Decrypted_Private_Key.pem"

See more OpenSSL commands and this helpful online SSL tool.

If your PFX file was created correctly, but you receive an error like "Connection Interrupted" when browsing SSL on your website after installing the certificate, try rebooting the server. It has worked for me in the past. If it doesn't, your private key probably does not match your certificate.

SSL troubles – Generate .key from .crt? (AlphaSSL)

You can't do any of those. Just issue a revoke request and get a new cert. If you loose your private key - bang, you're gone. That's the whole point of it.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

IIS – How to Import SSL Certificate with Text and Private Key

Use the following OpenSSL command:

How to decrypt an encrypted private key:

SSL troubles – Generate .key from .crt? (AlphaSSL)

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