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Complete a pending Exchange Server certificate request

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Completing a pending certificate request (also known as a certificate signing request or CSR) is the next step in configuring Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption in Exchange Server. After you receive the certificate from the certification authority (CA), you install the certificate on the Exchange server to complete the pending certificate request.

You can complete a pending certificate request in the Exchange admin center (EAC) or in the Exchange Management Shell. The procedures are the same for completing new certificate requests or certificate renewal requests. The procedures are also the same for certificates that were issued by an internal CA (for example, Active Directory Certificate Services), or a commercial CA.

You might receive one or more of the following types of certificate files CA:

  • PKCS #12 certificate files: These are binary certificate files that have .cer, .crt, .der, .p12, or .pfx filename extensions, and require a password when the file contains the private key or chain of trust. The CA might issue you only one binary certificate file that you need to install (protected by a password), or multiple root or intermediate binary certificate files that you also need to install.

  • PKCS #7 certificate files: These are text certificate files that have .p7b or .p7c filename extensions. These files contain the text: -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----- and -----END CERTIFICATE----- or -----BEGIN PKCS7----- and -----END PKCS7-----. If the CA includes a chain of certificates file with your binary certificate file, you also need to install the chain of certificates file.

Note

The certificate management tasks are removed from EAC for Exchange Server 2016 CU23 and Exchange Server 2019 CU12. Use Exchange Management Shell procedure to export/import the certificate from these versions.

What do you need to know before you begin?

  • Estimated time to complete: 5 minutes.

  • The procedures in this topic require you to have created a new certificate request on the Exchange server, sent the certificate request to the CA, and received the certificate from the CA. For more information, see Create an Exchange Server certificate request for a certification authority.

  • In the EAC, you need to retrieve the certificate file from a UNC path (\\<Server>\<Share> or \\<LocalServerName>\c$\). In the Exchange Management Shell, you can use a local file path.

  • If you renew or replace a certificate that was issued by a CA on a subscribed Edge Transport server, you need to remove the old certificate, and then delete and recreate the Edge Subscription. For more information, see Edge Subscription process.

  • To learn how to open the Exchange Management Shell in your on-premises Exchange organization, see Open the Exchange Management Shell.

  • You need to be assigned permissions before you can perform this procedure or procedures. To see what permissions you need, see the "Client Access services security" entry in the Clients and mobile devices permissions topic.

  • For information about keyboard shortcuts that may apply to the procedures in this topic, see Keyboard shortcuts in the Exchange admin center.

Tip

Having problems? Ask for help in the Exchange forums. Visit the forums at: Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or Exchange Online Protection.

Use the EAC to create complete a pending certificate request

  1. Open the EAC and navigate to Servers > Certificates.

  2. In the Select server list, select the Exchange server that holds the pending certificate request.

  3. A pending certificate request has the following properties:

    • In the list of certificates, the value of the Status field is Pending request.

    • When you select the certificate request from the list, there's a Complete link in the details pane.

    Select the pending certificate request that you want to complete, and then click Complete in the details pane.

  4. On the Complete pending request page that opens, in the File to import from field, enter the UNC path and filename for the certificate file. For example, \\FileServer01\Data\ContosoCert.cer. When you're finished, click OK.

The certificate request becomes a certificate in the list of Exchange certificates with a Status value of Valid. For next steps, see the Next steps section.

Use the Exchange Management Shell to complete a pending certificate request

To complete a pending certificate request, use the following syntax:

Import-ExchangeCertificate -FileData ([System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('<FilePathOrUNCPath>')) [-Password (Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString)] [-PrivateKeyExportable <$true | $false>] [-Server <ServerIdentity>]

You use this syntax with the following types of certificate files:

  • Binary certificate files (PKCS #12 files that have .cer, .crt, .der, .p12, or .pfx filename extensions).
  • Chain of certificates files (PKCS #7 text files that have .p7b or .p7c filename extensions).

This example imports the binary certificate file \\FileServer01\Data\Contoso Cert.cer that's protected on the local Exchange server. You're prompted to enter the password.

Import-ExchangeCertificate -FileData ([System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('\\FileServer01\Data\Contoso Cert.cer')) -Password (Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString)

This example imports the text certificate file \\FileServer01\Data\Chain of Certificates.p7b on the local Exchange server.

Import-ExchangeCertificate -FileData ([System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes('\\FileServer01\Data\Chain of Certificates.p7b'))

Notes:

  • The FileData parameter accepts local paths if the certificate file is located on the Exchange server where you're running the command, and this is the same server where you want to import the certificate. Otherwise, use a UNC path.
  • If you want to be able to export the certificate from the server where you're importing it, you need to use the PrivateKeyExportable parameter with the value $true.
  • For more information, see Import-ExchangeCertificate.

How do you know this worked?

To verify that you have successfully completed the certificate request and installed the certificate on the Exchange server, use either of the following procedures:

  • In the EAC at Servers > Certificates, verify the server where you installed the certificate is selected. In the list of certificates, verify that the certificate has Status property value Valid.

  • In the Exchange Management Shell on the server where you installed the certificate, run the following command and verify that the certificate is listed:

    Get-ExchangeCertificate | where {$_.Status -eq "Valid" -and $_.IsSelfSigned -eq $false} | Format-List FriendlyName,Subject,CertificateDomains,Thumbprint

Next steps

After you complete the pending certificate request by installing the certificate on the server, you need to assign the certificate to one or more Exchange services before the Exchange server is able to use the certificate for encryption. For more information, see Assign certificates to Exchange services.