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about_Certificate_Provider

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Provider name

Certificate

Drives

Cert:

Capabilities

ShouldProcess

Short description

Provides access to X.509 certificate stores and certificates in PowerShell.

Detailed description

This information only applies to PowerShell running on Windows.

The PowerShell Certificate provider lets you get, add, change, clear, and delete certificates and certificate stores in PowerShell.

The Certificate drive is a hierarchical namespace containing the certificate stores and certificates on your computer.

The Certificate provider supports the following cmdlets.

Types exposed by this provider

The Certificate drive exposes the following types.

  • Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.X509StoreLocation, which are high-level containers that group the certificates for the current user and for all users. Each system has a CurrentUser and LocalMachine (all users) store location.
  • System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Store, which are physical stores where certificates are saved and managed.
  • System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2, each representing an X.509 certificate on the computer. Certificates are identified by their thumbprints.

The Certificate provider exposes the certificate namespace as the Cert: drive in PowerShell. This command uses the Set-Location command to change the current location to the Root certificate store in the LocalMachine store location. Use a backslash (\) or a forward slash (/) to indicate a level of the Cert: drive.

Set-Location Cert:

You can also work with the certificate provider from any other PowerShell drive. To reference an alias from another location, use the Cert: drive name in the path.

PS Cert:\> Set-Location -Path LocalMachine\Root

To return to a file system drive, type the drive name. For example, type:

Set-Location C:

Note

PowerShell uses aliases to allow you a familiar way to work with provider paths. Commands such as dir and ls are now aliases for Get-ChildItem, cd is an alias for Set-Location, and pwd is an alias for Get-Location.

Displaying the Contents of the Cert: drive

This command uses the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to display the certificate stores in the CurrentUser certificate store location.

If you aren't in the Cert: drive, use an absolute path.

PS Cert:\CurrentUser\> Get-ChildItem

Displaying certificate properties within the Cert: drive

This example gets a certificate with Get-Item and stores it in a variable. The example shows the new certificate script properties (DnsNameList, EnhancedKeyUsageList, SendAsTrustedIssuer) using Select-Object.

$c = Get-Item cert:\LocalMachine\My\52A149D0393CE8A8D4AF0B172ED667A9E3A1F44E
$c | Format-List DnsNameList, EnhancedKeyUsageList, SendAsTrustedIssuer

DnsNameList          : {SERVER01.contoso.com}
EnhancedKeyUsageList : {WiFi-Machine (1.3.6.1.4.1.311.42.2.6),
                       Client Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2)}
SendAsTrustedIssuer  : False

Find all CodeSigning certificates

This command uses the CodeSigningCert and Recurse parameters of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get all the certificates on the computer that have code-signing authority.

Get-ChildItem -Path cert: -CodeSigningCert -Recurse

Find expired certificates

This command uses the ExpiringInDays parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get certificates that expire within the next 30 days.

Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\LocalMachine\WebHosting -ExpiringInDays 30

Find Server SSL Certificates

This command uses the SSLServerAuthentication parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get all Server SSL Certificates in the My and WebHosting stores.

$getChildItemSplat = @{
    Path = 'cert:\LocalMachine\My', 'cert:\LocalMachine\WebHosting'
    SSLServerAuthentication = $true
}
Get-ChildItem @getChildItemSplat

Find expired certificates on remote computers

This command uses the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run a Get-ChildItem command on the Srv01 and Srv02 computers. A value of zero (0) in the ExpiringInDays parameter gets certificates on the Srv01 and Srv02 computers that have expired.

$invokeCommandSplat = @{
    ComputerName = 'Srv01', 'Srv02'
    ScriptBlock = {
        Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\* -Recurse -ExpiringInDays 0
    }
}
Invoke-Command @invokeCommandSplat

Combining filters to find a specific set of certificates

This command gets all certificates in the LocalMachine store location that have the following attributes:

  • fabrikam in their DNS name
  • Client Authentication in their EKU
  • a value of $true for the SendAsTrustedIssuer property
  • don't expire within the next 30 days.

The NotAfter property stores the certificate expiration date.

[DateTime] $ValidThrough = (Get-Date) + (New-TimeSpan -Days 30)
$getChildItemSplat = @{
    Path = 'cert:\*'
    Recurse = $true
    DnsName = "*fabrikam*"
    Eku = "*Client Authentication*"
}
Get-ChildItem @getChildItemSplat |
    Where-Object {$_.SendAsTrustedIssuer -and $_.NotAfter -gt $ValidThrough }

Opening the Certificates MMC Snap-in

The Invoke-Item cmdlet uses the default application to open a path you specify. For certificates, the default application is the Certificates MMC snap-in.

This command opens the Certificates MMC snap-in to manage the specified certificate.

Invoke-Item cert:\CurrentUser\my\6B8223358119BB08840DEE50FD8AF9EA776CE66B

Copying Certificates

Copying certificates isn't supported by the Certificate provider. When you attempt to copy a certificate, you see this error.

$path = "Cert:\LocalMachine\Root\E2C0F6662D3C569705B4B31FE2CBF3434094B254"
PS Cert:\LocalMachine\> Copy-Item -Path $path -Destination .\CA\

Copy-Item : Provider operation stopped because the provider doesn't support
this operation.
At line:1 char:1
+ Copy-Item -Path $path -Destination .\CA\
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotImplemented: (:) [Copy-Item],
                              PSNotSupportedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NotSupported,
                              Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

Moving Certificates

Move all SSL Server authentication certs to the WebHosting store

This command uses the Move-Item cmdlet to move a certificate from the My store to the WebHosting store.

Move-Item can't move certificate stores and it can't move certificates to a different store location, such as moving a certificate from LocalMachine to CurrentUser. The Move-Item cmdlet can move certificates within a store, but it doesn't move private keys.

This command uses the SSLServerAuthentication parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get SSL server authentication certificates in the My certificate store.

The returned certificates are piped to the Move-Item cmdlet, which moves the certificates to the WebHosting store.

Get-ChildItem cert:\LocalMachine\My -SSLServerAuthentication |
    Move-Item -Destination cert:\LocalMachine\WebHosting

Deleting Certificates and Private Keys

The Remove-Item cmdlet deletes certificates that you specify. The DeleteKey dynamic parameter deletes the private key.

Delete a Certificate from the CA store

This command deletes a certificate from the CA certificate store, but leaves the associated private key intact.

In the Cert: drive, the Remove-Item cmdlet supports only the DeleteKey, Path, WhatIf, and Confirm parameters. All other parameters are ignored.

Remove-Item cert:\LocalMachine\CA\5DDC44652E62BF9AA1116DC41DE44AB47C87BDD0

Delete a Certificate using a wildcards in the DNS name

This command deletes all certificates that have a DNS name that contains Fabrikam. It uses the DNSName parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet to get the certificates and the Remove-Item cmdlet to delete them.

Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\LocalMachine -DnsName *Fabrikam* | Remove-Item

Delete private keys from a remote computer

This series of commands enables delegation and then deletes the certificate and associated private key on a remote computer. To delete a private key on a remote computer, you must use delegated credentials.

Use the Enable-WSManCredSSP cmdlet to enable Credential Security Service Provider (CredSSP) authentication on a client on the S1 remote computer. CredSSP permits delegated authentication.

Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role Client -DelegateComputer S1

Use the Connect-WSMan cmdlet to connect the S1 computer to the WinRM service on the local computer. When this command completes, the S1 computer appears in the local WSMan: drive in PowerShell.

Connect-WSMan -ComputerName S1 -Credential Domain01\Admin01

Now, you can use the Set-Item cmdlet in the WSMan: drive to enable the CredSSP attribute for the WinRM service.

Set-Item -Path WSMan:\S1\Service\Auth\CredSSP -Value $true

Start a remote session on the S1 computer using the New-PSSession cmdlet, and specify CredSSP authentication. Saves the session in the $s variable.

$s  = New-PSSession S1 -Authentication CredSSP -Credential Domain01\Admin01

Finally, use the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run a Remove-Item command in the session in the $s variable. The Remove-Item command uses the DeleteKey parameter to remove the private key along with the specified certificate.

Invoke-Command -Session $s {
    $removeItemSplat = @{
        Path = 'cert:\LocalMachine\My\D2D38EBA60CAA1C12055A2E1C83B15AD450110C2'
        DeleteKey = $true
    }
    Remove-Item @removeItemSplat
}

Delete expired Certificates

This command uses the ExpiringInDays parameter of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet with a value of 0 to get certificates in the WebHosting store that have expired.

The variable containing the returned certificates is piped to the Remove-Item cmdlet, which deletes them. The command uses the DeleteKey parameter to delete the private key along with the certificate.

$expired = Get-ChildItem cert:\LocalMachine\WebHosting -ExpiringInDays 0
$expired | Remove-Item -DeleteKey

Creating Certificates

The New-Item cmdlet doesn't create new certificates in the Certificate provider. Use the New-SelfSignedCertificate cmdlet to create a certificate for testing purposes.

Creating Certificate Stores

In the Cert: drive, the New-Item cmdlet creates certificate stores in the LocalMachine store location. It supports the Name, Path, WhatIf, and Confirm parameters. All other parameters are ignored. The command returns a System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Store that represents the new certificate store.

This command creates a new certificate store named CustomStore in the LocalMachine store location.

New-Item -Path cert:\LocalMachine\CustomStore

Create a new certificate store on a remote computer

This command creates a new certificate store named HostingStore in the LocalMachine store location on the Server01 computer.

The command uses the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run a New-Item command on the Server01 computer. The command returns a System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Store that represents the new certificate store.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Server01 -ScriptBlock {
    New-Item -Path cert:\LocalMachine\CustomStore
}

Creating Client Certificates for WS-Man

This command creates ClientCertificate entry that can be used by the WS-Management client. The new ClientCertificate shows up under the ClientCertificate directory as ClientCertificate_1234567890. All the parameters are mandatory. The Issuer needs to be thumbprint of the issuer's certificate.

$newItemSplat = @{
    Path = 'WSMan:\localhost\ClientCertificate'
    Credential = Get-Credential
    Issuer = '1b3fd224d66c6413fe20d21e38b304226d192dfe'
    URI = 'wmicimv2/*'
}
New-Item @newItemSplat

Deleting Certificate Stores

Delete a certificate store from a remote computer

This command uses the Invoke-Command cmdlet to run a Remove-Item command on the S1 and S2 computers. The Remove-Item command includes the Recurse parameter, which deletes the certificates in the store before it deletes the store.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName S1, S2 -ScriptBlock {
    Remove-Item -Path cert:\LocalMachine\TestStore -Recurse
}

Dynamic parameters

Dynamic parameters are cmdlet parameters that are added by a PowerShell provider and are available only when the cmdlet is being used in the provider-enabled drive. These parameters are valid in all subdirectories of the Certificate provider, but are effective only on certificates.

Note

Parameters that perform filtering against the EnhancedKeyUsageList property also return items with an empty EnhancedKeyUsageList property value. Certificates that have an empty EnhancedKeyUsageList can be used for all purposes.

The following Certificate provider parameters were reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1.

  • DNSName
  • DocumentEncryptionCert
  • EKU
  • ExpiringInDays
  • SSLServerAuthentication

CodeSigningCert <System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter gets certificates that have Code Signing in their EnhancedKeyUsageList property value.

DeleteKey <System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter deletes the associated private key when it deletes the certificate.

Important

To delete a private key that's associated with a user certificate in the Cert:\CurrentUser store on a remote computer, you must use delegated credentials. The Invoke-Command cmdlet supports credential delegation using the CredSSP parameter. You should consider any security risks before using Remove-Item with Invoke-Command and credential delegation.

This parameter was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1

DnsName <Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.DnsNameRepresentation>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter gets certificates that have the specified domain name or name pattern in the DNSNameList property of the certificate. The value of this parameter can either be Unicode or ASCII. Punycode values are converted to Unicode. Wildcard characters (*) are permitted.

This parameter was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1

DocumentEncryptionCert <System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter gets certificates that have Document Encryption in their EnhancedKeyUsageList property value.

EKU <System.String>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter gets certificates that have the specified text or text pattern in the EnhancedKeyUsageList property of the certificate. Wildcard characters (*) are permitted. The EnhancedKeyUsageList property contains the friendly name and the OID fields of the EKU.

This parameter was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1

ExpiringInDays <System.Int32>

Cmdlets supported

This parameter gets certificates that are expiring in or before the specified number of days. A value of zero (0) gets certificates that have expired.

This parameter was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1

ItemType <System.String>

This parameter is used to specify the type of item created by New-Item. The New-Item cmdlet only supports the value Store. New-Item cmdlet can't create new certificates.

Cmdlets Supported

SSLServerAuthentication <System.Management.Automation.SwitchParameter>

Cmdlets supported

Gets only server certificates for SSL web hosting. This parameter gets certificates that have Server Authentication in their EnhancedKeyUsageList property value.

This parameter was reintroduced in PowerShell 7.1

Script properties

New script properties have been added to the x509Certificate2 object that represents the certificates to make it easy to search and manage the certificates.

  • DnsNameList: To populate the DnsNameList property, the Certificate provider copies the content from the DNSName entry in the SubjectAlternativeName (SAN) extension. If the SAN extension is empty, the property is populated with content from the Subject field of the certificate.
  • EnhancedKeyUsageList: To populate the EnhancedKeyUsageList property, the Certificate provider copies the OID properties of the EnhancedKeyUsage (EKU) field in the certificate and creates a friendly name for it.
  • SendAsTrustedIssuer: To populate the SendAsTrustedIssuer property, the Certificate provider copies the SendAsTrustedIssuer property from the certificate. For more information see Management of trusted issuers for client authentication.

These new features let you search for certificates based on their DNS names and expiration dates, and distinguish client and server authentication certificates by the value of their Enhanced Key Usage (EKU) properties.

Using the pipeline

Provider cmdlets accept pipeline input. You can use the pipeline to simplify tasks by sending provider data from one cmdlet to another provider cmdlet. To read more about how to use the pipeline with provider cmdlets, see the cmdlet references provided throughout this article.

Getting help

Beginning in PowerShell 3.0, you can get customized help topics for provider cmdlets that explain how those cmdlets behave in a file system drive.

To get the help topics that are customized for the file system drive, run a Get-Help command in a file system drive or use the -Path parameter of Get-Help to specify a file system drive.

Get-Help Get-ChildItem

Get-Help Get-ChildItem -Path cert:

See also