Before we proceed, ensure you have the following:
•The self-signed certificate file (typically in .pfx or .cer format) that you wish to import.
•Administrator access to your Windows machine.
This steps has to be performed on every machine, on which you would like to trust a certificate.
|
Warning: These instructions are for self-signed certificates and for testing purposes only. Certificates from well-known authorities are already trusted in your Windows and do not need to be imported. |
Follow these steps to import your self-signed certificate:
1.Locate the Certificate File.
2.Open the Windows Certificate Manager. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
3.Type certmgr.msc and press Enter. This opens the Certificate Manager.
4.In the Certificate Manager, expand the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" folder in the left-hand pane.
5.Right-click on the "Certificates" folder within the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and select "All Tasks" > "Import."
6.Browse to the location of your self-signed certificate file (.cer). Select the file and click "Next."
7.Enter your password. In the example shown in chapter Creating Self-Signed Certificates the example value was Password123.
8.Choose "Place all certificates in the following store" and click "Browse."
9.Select "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and click "OK." This ensures that the certificate is imported into the trusted root store.
10.Click "Next" and then "Finish" to complete the import process.
You should receive a message confirming that the import was successful. You can verify that the certificate has been imported by navigating to the "Certificates" folder within the "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" in the Certificate Manager.
Below are two screenshots showing a signed package, one with a certificate that was not imported, and one with the certificate that was imported using the technique above.
Before importing
Note that Windows warns that the root certificate is not trusted:
After importing
The root certificate is now trusted:
