Knowledge Base
How to Generate a CSR for an SSL Certificate Using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC)
Overview
By the end of this guide, you will have generated a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and its private key for an SSL certificate and saved the CSR ready to submit to Sectigo. The procedure uses the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) on Windows. You will confirm the prerequisites, open the Current User certificate store, create a custom request, enter your certificate subject details, set the private key options, and save the CSR file.
Prerequisites
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Access to a Windows computer.
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Permission to manage certificates under Current User → Personal.
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The certificate subject details (Common Name, Organization, Country, and so on).
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A Sectigo account to submit the CSR after you generate it.
Steps
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Open the Current User certificate store.
Click the Windows Start menu, then Run. In the Run dialog, enter certmgr.msc and click OK. The Current User certificate store opens in the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
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Start a custom request.
Right-click the Personal folder and select All Tasks → Advanced Operations → Create Custom Request. The Certificate Enrollment wizard opens.
Figure 1: MMC certificate store — right-clicking Personal and choosing All Tasks → Advanced Operations → Create Custom Request.
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Continue past the Before You Begin page.
On the Before You Begin page, click Next.
Figure 2: Certificate Enrollment wizard, Before You Begin page.
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Select the enrollment policy.
On the Select Certificate Enrollment Policy page, select Proceed without enrollment policy, then click Next.
Figure 3: Select Certificate Enrollment Policy page with “Proceed without enrollment policy” selected.
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Choose the request template and format.
On the Custom Request page, set Template to (No template) Legacy key and Request format to PKCS #10, then click Next.
Figure 4: Custom Request page with the Legacy key template and PKCS #10 request format selected.
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Open the certificate properties.
On the Certificate Information page, expand the Details section and click Properties to open the Certificate Properties page.
Figure 5: Certificate Information page with the Details section expanded and the Properties button.
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Enter a friendly name.
On the General tab, enter a Friendly name for the certificate.
Figure 6: Certificate Properties — General tab, entering a friendly name.
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Enter the subject details.
On the Subject tab, enter the subject details for the CSR. Common Name and Country are mandatory; the available fields are Common Name, Organization Name, State, City, Country, and Email. Which values are actually included depends on the certificate type you purchase from Sectigo:
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Domain Validation (DV): Common Name and Country.
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Organization Validation (OV): Common Name (a Fully Qualified Domain Name, or FQDN), Organization Name, State, and Country.
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Extended Validation (EV): the same fields as OV, but they must exactly match your registered legal business name and location.
Figure 7: Certificate Properties — Subject tab for entering subject name values.
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Set the private key options.
On the Private Key tab, open Key Options and set Key size to 2048 or 4096, then select Mark private key as exportable.
Figure 8: Certificate Properties — Private Key tab, with key size and the exportable option set.
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Save the CSR.
On the save page, choose a location, enter a file name, and click Finish. Submit the saved CSR through your Sectigo client portal to complete the certificate request.
Figure 9: Certificate Enrollment wizard — saving the offline request (the CSR file) before clicking Finish.
Similar Questions
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How do I generate a CSR for an SSL certificate on Windows using MMC?
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How do I create a custom certificate request with an exportable private key?
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Which subject fields are required for DV, OV, and EV SSL certificates?
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