Special about a code signing certificate

certificatecode-signing

Is it different from any other certificate I can generate via makecert or buy from some authority?

Best Answer

As mentioned by Mile L and Boot to the Head the Extended Key Usage is what determines the purpose that the key can be used for.

Most commercial certificate authorities (Verisign et al) issue certificates for single purposes, or for as few as possible.

They use this narrowing of the puropse to carve out different markets for the certificates and then price them accordingly.

You see them selling different Object Signing certs for Windows Assemblies / Java / Office / Adobe Air etc when (in most cases) the resulting certificate is the same.

For example the Comodo codesigning cert issued here can sign Java applets, WebStart applications, Firefox extensions and even Windows assemblies.

Updated Answer

If you are using the following Windows versions or later: Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows 8.1 then MakeCert is now deprecated, and Microsoft recommends using the PowerShell Cmdlet New-SelfSignedCertificate.

If you're using an older version such as Windows 7, you'll need to stick with MakeCert or another solution. Some people suggest the Public Key Infrastructure Powershell (PSPKI) Module.

Original Answer

While you can create a self-signed code-signing certificate (SPC - Software Publisher Certificate) in one go, I prefer to do the following:

Creating a self-signed certificate authority (CA)

makecert -r -pe -n "CN=My CA" -ss CA -sr CurrentUser ^
         -a sha256 -cy authority -sky signature -sv MyCA.pvk MyCA.cer

(^ = allow batch command-line to wrap line)

This creates a self-signed (-r) certificate, with an exportable private key (-pe). It's named "My CA", and should be put in the CA store for the current user. We're using the SHA-256 algorithm. The key is meant for signing (-sky).

The private key should be stored in the MyCA.pvk file, and the certificate in the MyCA.cer file.

Importing the CA certificate

Because there's no point in having a CA certificate if you don't trust it, you'll need to import it into the Windows certificate store. You can use the Certificates MMC snapin, but from the command line:

certutil -user -addstore Root MyCA.cer

Creating a code-signing certificate (SPC)

makecert -pe -n "CN=My SPC" -a sha256 -cy end ^
         -sky signature ^
         -ic MyCA.cer -iv MyCA.pvk ^
         -sv MySPC.pvk MySPC.cer

It is pretty much the same as above, but we're providing an issuer key and certificate (the -ic and -iv switches).

We'll also want to convert the certificate and key into a PFX file:

pvk2pfx -pvk MySPC.pvk -spc MySPC.cer -pfx MySPC.pfx

If you are using a password please use the below

pvk2pfx -pvk MySPC.pvk -spc MySPC.cer -pfx MySPC.pfx -po fess

If you want to protect the PFX file, add the -po switch, otherwise PVK2PFX creates a PFX file with no passphrase.

Using the certificate for signing code

signtool sign /v /f MySPC.pfx ^
              /t http://timestamp.url MyExecutable.exe

(See why timestamps may matter)

If you import the PFX file into the certificate store (you can use PVKIMPRT or the MMC snapin), you can sign code as follows:

signtool sign /v /n "Me" /s SPC ^
              /t http://timestamp.url MyExecutable.exe

Some possible timestamp URLs for signtool /t are:

http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll
http://timestamp.globalsign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll
http://timestamp.comodoca.com/authenticode
http://timestamp.digicert.com

Full Microsoft documentation

Downloads

For those who are not .NET developers, you will need a copy of the Windows SDK and .NET framework. A current link is available here: [SDK & .NET][5] (which installs makecert in `C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1`). Your mileage may vary.

MakeCert is available from the Visual Studio Command Prompt. Visual Studio 2015 does have it, and it can be launched from the Start Menu in Windows 7 under "Developer Command Prompt for VS 2015" or "VS2015 x64 Native Tools Command Prompt" (probably all of them in the same folder).

Windows – Signing a Windows EXE file

You can try using Microsoft's Sign Tool

You download it as part of the Windows SDK for Windows Server 2008 and .NET 3.5. Once downloaded you can use it from the command line like so:

signtool sign /a MyFile.exe

This signs a single executable, using the "best certificate" available. (If you have no certificate, it will show a SignTool error message.)

Or you can try:

signtool signwizard

This will launch a wizard that will walk you through signing your application. (This option is not available after Windows SDK 7.0.)

If you'd like to get a hold of certificate that you can use to test your process of signing the executable you can use the .NET tool Makecert.

Certificate Creation Tool (Makecert.exe)

Once you've created your own certificate and have used it to sign your executable, you'll need to manually add it as a Trusted Root CA for your machine in order for UAC to tell the user running it that it's from a trusted source. Important. Installing a certificate as ROOT CA will endanger your users privacy. Look what happened with DELL. You can find more information for accomplishing this both in code and through Windows in:

Stack Overflow question Install certificates in to the Windows Local user certificate store in C#
Installing a Self-Signed Certificate as a Trusted Root CA in Windows Vista

Hopefully that provides some more information for anyone attempting to do this!