Ssl – Modulus mismatch, key file does not match certificate. Please use the correct key file

apache-2.2ssl

I'm trying to install SSL certificate provided by RapidSSL and CRT file was correctly provided to Rapid and they issues with a new SSL certificate.

I have allocated a dedicated ip address for this domain but when I try to install the certificate it comes up with below error:

Modulus mismatch, key file does not match certificate. Please use the correct key file 

What could this mean?

Best Answer

the error is simple, your private key file you are using is not actually the one used to generate the CSR for your ssl certificate, you should locate the correct key file and reference that one in your apache ssl vhost

this is the basics of how ssl works and how ssl validation works. You create your key, but rather than providing it to a certificate provider to generate and sign an ssl which would be unsecure, you generate a csr which generates enough data to allow the ssl company to sign a certificate for you. therefore if you dont use this same private key with your actual ssl certificate it will fail because they dont match up to each other

where did you generate your csr for the ssl certificate? its probably likely that the key is somewhere there too

provide some more info about your system and i can advise better where to look