Disappearing SSL certificates from IIS 7.0 manager

“I install a SSL server certificate using the ‘Complete Certificate Request’ wizard in IIS manager and when I refresh the view the certificate disappears. “

I have heard that a couple of times and every time I used to go “What ?” Until someone showed it to me.

If you are one of those who are wondering about this read on.

The Server Certificates module in IIS manager displays a list of certificates from the Local Machine SSL store.

But it only lists the certificate if

1. The certificate has a private key

2. The certificate is meant for Server Authentication

And this is where the disappearing act occurs.

The IIS Manager enumerates all the extensions of the certificate and checks if OID 2.5.29.37 (Extended Key Usage) exists. If it does the certificate Enhanced Key Usage section must contain 1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1  (Server Authentication).

In the repro’ I was shown the user had actually downloaded the intermediate certificate and used that .cer file to complete the certificate request. In this case the wizard will go thro’ all the steps but when you refresh the view the certificate will not be listed.

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