Exporting a Root CA Certificate to a File

PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟Exporting a Root CA Certificate to a File

This section provides a tutorial example on how to export a root CA certificate to a certificate file in base-64 encoded X.509 file using the certificates console on a Windows system.

In this tutorial, I want to try to export a root CA certificate to a certificate file using the certificate console.

1. Click "Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > MyCertificatesConsole.msc". "MyCertificatesConsole" window shows up.

2. Open "Certificates (Local Computer) > Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates" in the Console Root tree. A list of all certificates in "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" store shows up.

3. Select "Go Daddy Class 2 Certification Authority" and click "Open" from the "Action" menu. The Certificate dialog box shows up.

4. Click the "Details" tab and then the "Copy to File" button. The Certificate Export Wizard shows up.

5. Click the "Next" button and select "Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER)" format.

6. Click the "Next" button and enter "\herong\GoDaddy.cer" as the file name.

6. Click the "Next" button and then the "Finish" button. The Go Daddy CA certificate is exported to a file now.

7. Open "\herong\GoDaddy.cer" in a text editor. You should see something like this:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIIEADCCAuigAwIBAgIBADANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADBjMQswCQYDVQQGEwJVUzEh
MB8GA1UEChMYVGhlIEdvIERhZGR5IEdyb3VwLCBJbmMuMTEwLwYDVQQLEyhHbyBE
...
-----END CERTIFICATE-----