CertReq

This repository is to create some guidance on how to create a certificate request. I'll start with the information from my friend Rhoderick Milne from this blog post : https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/rmilne/2014/06/17/how-to-request-certificate-without-using-iis-or-exchange/

CertReq initialization file

That is the "CertReq.inf" file on this repository, directly taken from Rhod's above article. https://github.com/SammyKrosoft/CertReq.Inf/blob/master/CertReq.inf

CertReq command line

That one is :

CertReq.exe -New CertReq.inf MyCertReq.req

And takes the information defined in the CertReq initialization file to create a Cert Request that you'll give to your Certification Authority.

Once you receive the response from the CA (Internal or External -Public- one), you must "mate" the "pending certificate request" with the signed CA response certificate using :

CertReq -Accept CertReceivedFromCA.cer

IMPORTANT : the whole Batchfile CertReq -New and CertReq -Accept MUST be done on the same machine ... because when you create a CertRequest, a pair of keys are generated : one Public key, that is encoded with the .Req certificate request, and one Private key, that stays on the machine (encrypted, and under the Windows\Crypto... subfolder)

Other methods

Other well known methods to generate a certificate requests are through IIS and/or Exchange (using powershell New-ExchangeCertificateRequest / Import-ExchangeCertificate / Enable-ExchangeCertificate), but I won't detail these about it, plenty of examples on the internet, including a DIGICERT Exchange PowerShell Certificate Request generator that work very well with any Exchange version - not only Exchange 2010)

IMPORTANT: just like the CertReq method, the Certificate Request and Acceptation/Import MUST be done from the same machine - with any methods, a pair of keys are created - one Public that is inside the request file and one Private that stays on the machine under Windows\Crypto.... subfolder - and once imported the Private Key is attached (or "mated" like Rhoderick like to write it) with the received certificate from the Internal or External/Public CA.