Install Certificate in Local computer Certificate Store

Many times application development needs certificate to be installed in Local Machine – My store. My store actually refers to personal folder in present in certificate manager.

When you open “Run” window and type “Certmgr.msc”, the certificate store for CurrentUser opens and not for local machine. To open Local Machine certificate store follow the steps mentioned below.   

Open “Run” window and type “MMC” and click OK. This will open window named as “Console 1”. Under file menu select “Add Remove Snap in option as shown below –

Select “Certificates” from left hand panel and click on “Add” button.

On the “certificate snap in” window select “Computer Account” and click Next.

On “Select Computer” window select radio button labeled as “Local Computer” and click Finish.

Then click OK to close parent window. Then expand “Certifcates-Personal folder” in left hand panel and then select “Certificates” folder in it. All the certificates present in the Personal folder are nothing but certificates present in Local Machine My Store. If any othe certificate is not present then you import in it.

Let's say you wish to add certificate in Trusted People store which is present in Personal store. Then you will need to export the certificate from Personal store and import in Trusted People store. To export certificate from Personal store, Right click on certificate -> All Tasks-> Export->click Next on welcome window ->Select “Yes, export the private key” ->Select “Export all extended properties”, rest leave unchecked ->type password->specify the file name and path->click Finish to complete the export process. You will see .pfx file generated at the location specified during export process. This is how any certificate can be exported from any store.

Now right click on Trusted People - > All Tasks -> Import ->Click Next on welcome window->Select .cer or .pfx file -> If .pfx is selected then you will need to specify the password and check the option “Mark this key as exportable” option->In “Place All certificate in following store” option make sure that intended store is present. In this case “Trusted People” is store -> click finish to complete the import wizard. This way any certificate can be imported in certificate store.

Hope this helps.

Cheers…

Happy Certification!!!