Find Private Key Tool (FindPrivateKey.exe)

This command-line tool can be used to retrieve a private key from a certificate store. For example, FindPrivateKey.exe can be used to find the location and name of the private key file associated with a specific X.509 certificate in the certificate store.

FindPrivateKey <storeName> <storeLocation> [{ {-n <subjectName>} | {-t <thumbprint>} } [-f | -d | -a]]

Remarks

The following tables describe the arguments and the options that can be used with the Find Private Key tool (FindPrivateKey.exe).

Argument	Description
storeName	Name of the certificate store.
storeLocation	The location of the certificate store.

Option	Description
/n <subjectName>	Specifies the subject name of the certificate.
/t <thumbprint>	Specifies the thumbprint of the certificate. Use Certmgr.exe to retrieve the thumbprint of the certificate.
/f	Outputs the file name only.
/d	Outputs the directory only.
/a	Outputs the absolute file name.

Examples

The following command retrieves the private key for John Doe.

FindPrivateKey My CurrentUser -n "CN=John Doe"

The following command retrieves the private key for the local machine.

FindPrivateKey My LocalMachine -t "03 33 98 63 d0 47 e7 48 71 33 62 64 76 5c 4c 9d 42 1d 6b 52" –a