Step-By-Step Procedure to Export a Certificates With a Private Key From a Windows Server

The private key plays a vital role in proving the identity. A private key is required to sign a certificate and prove its authenticity. Without the private key, it would not be possible to verify the certificate or decrypt the data. So private key is highly confidential. It should be protected with higher security. If you leak the private key of a server to an unauthorized person, the person can impersonate the legitimate owner and carry out activities such as eavesdropping on communications or conducting man-in-the-middle attacks. However, there are several circumstances where you will have to use the same private key on other servers. Since Windows doesn’t allow accessing private keys, you can’t transport a private key alone. In such cases, you will have to export the certificate with a private key from the Windows server and share the certificate with the private key to import to another server.

Let’s see how to export a certificate with a private key from a Windows Server in this post.

Why Should We Export Certificates With a Private Key?

If you want a certificate for an internal application from the internal Certificate Authority, you can request as many certificates as you want. However, if you want a certificate for an application hosted on the public internet, you should request a public certificate from any global Certificate Authorities like Digicert, Verisign, or Let‘s Encrypt. Bear in mind that public certificates come for a heavy price. No organizations will be ready to buy multiple public certificates for a single application hosted on multiple servers. Instead, they want to reuse the same certificate on multiple servers of that application. You can’t install the same certificate on multiple servers without the private key. That’s why most organizations will export the certificate with a private key so that they can reuse the same certificate on multiple servers of that application. We have listed a few other reasons you want to export a Certificate with a private key. Some of them are:

How to Export a Certificates With Private Key From Windows Server?

Let’s see a step-by-step procedure to export a certificate with a private key from a Windows Server in a pfx format using Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

Step 1. Let’s Begin to Export the Certificate by Launching MMC Console

In Windows Start, type ‘Run‘ –> type ‘mmc‘, and click on ‘OK‘ to open the MMC console.

Step 2. Add/Remove Snap-in

In the console, click on ‘File‘ –> select ‘Add/Remove Snap-in‘.

Step 3. Add Certificate Snap-in

In Add / Remove Snap-in, select ‘Certificates‘ from Available snap-ins, and click on ‘Add >‘ .

Step 4. Add Computer Account to Export Computer Certificate

In the certificates snap-in window, select ‘Computer Account‘, and click on ‘Next‘.

Step 5. Select the Computer You Want to Export the Certificate From

Select ‘Local computer: (the computer this console is running on)‘ from which we are exporting the certificate, and click on ‘Finish’ to complete the certificated snap-in addition in the MMC. Select Another Computer if you want to export the certificate from a different computer.

Step 6. Click ‘OK’ to Complete the ‘Add or Remove Snap-in’ Window

Step 7. Select the Certificate You Want to Export

In this case, certificates exist in Personal Store. Expand Console Root –> Certificates (Local Computer) –> Personal –> Certificates.

Step 8. Export the Certificate

Select the certificate which needs to Export. Right-click on the certificate –> Select ‘All Tasks‘ –> click on ‘Export. ‘

Step 9. Certificate Export Wizard Opens. Click ‘Next’ to Continue

Step 10. Select the Export Private Key Option

Under the ‘Export Private Key‘ window, Select ‘Yes, export the private key‘ to export the certificate with Private Key. Click ‘Next‘ to continue.

Step 11. Select PFX Format

Under the ‘Export File Format’ window, select ‘Personal Information Exchange — PKCS #12 (.PFX)‘ and check ‘Include all certificates in the certification path if possible to include the chain of Intermediate CA certificates into the certificate file. Click ‘Next‘ to continue.

Step 12. Encrypt the Certificate With Password

In the ‘Security’ Window, check ‘Password‘ and set a ‘Password‘ and ‘Confirm Password’. This password will be used while Importing the certificate. Select the ‘Encryption’ to ‘TripleDES-SHA1‘. Click on ‘Next‘.

Step 13. Export the Certificate With Private Key In PFX Format

In the ‘File to Export‘ window, Select the File Name and the Location where the certificate with Private Kay will be exported. Click on ‘Next‘.

Step 14. Certificate Export Wizard Summary

Take a look at the ‘Certificate Export Wizard Summary‘ and verify the details and click on ‘Finish. ‘

Step 15. Export of the Certificate Completion With This

You will be greeted with a prompt ‘The export was successful’. Click ‘OK‘ to complete the Wizard.

Step 16. A Certificate With Private Key Is Ready to Transfer to Other Server

You will find the Exported Certificate with Private Key in the location (In this case, it’s the ‘Documents’ Folder).

This is how you can export a certificate with a private key from a Windows Server.

We hope this post will show you step by step procedure to export a certificate with a private key from a Windows Server. Please share this post and help to secure the digital world. Visit our social media page on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Telegram, Tumblr, Medium & Instagram, and subscribe to receive updates like this.