Wamp OpenSSL - No csr file

Question

I am trying to create a csr with openssl but I am facing a problem. For information, I am on Windows 7 and I am using WampServer. It is the first time I have to do that and I've spent hours on the Internet desperately looking for a solution.

In command prompt I entered this :

req -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -out my.domaine.com.csr -keyout my.domaine.com.key -config "C:\wamp\bin\apache\apache2.2.22\conf\openssl.cnf"

First time, I thought it worked. It asked me all the questions (city, state, ...)! But after that, I could not locate my csr file. So, I did it one more time... and many other times. I've read a lot of tutorials and every time it seemed to work but I still haven't got my csr! I supposed I would find it in my "conf" folder but it isn't there (neither in another folder). It is really strange because when I do this, I've got no error message or something else. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

CSR is the Certificate Signing Request file. Its one step away from a public key ... the difference is it's not signed/authenticated by anyone yet, and also contains some extra info related to the whole process.

The csr is always generated by you using your private key. Then you either send it off to an authority that will sign it and return it to you as your public key, or you self-sign it (but no Browser will trust it in that case).

The problem with all this is you can use many different ways to structure your openssl method - in one go, in multiple stages, etc. Then there are path issues to consider.

It sounds like you can't locate the file because it's been created in the cmd.exe's working directory -

Execute this in the cmd.exe window, after you've run your commands: cd .

Look at the path. This is the folder the command-line window is working in, and your csr file is most likely in there.

cmd.exe defaults to path (on start) - C:\Windows\System32\

Or instead of the above openssl command, use instructions that generate everything in separate clear stages - http://www.devside.net/howto/create-ssl-certificates-for-apache. You'll need to notice the path (folder you want the csr, public, and private key in, and openssl.cnf location) and update it from WampDeveloper's to WampServer's, or just use whatever path/folder you want via the cd (change directory) command. Everything else is agnostic (dosen't matter if you use Xampp, UniformServer, WampDeveloper Pro, WampServer, etc). It's all explained, from the working-directory, changing paths, how to self-sign, and some common issues you can run into. You should be able to use it with WampServer's folder structure no problem. Rename the private.key and public.key to whatever you want afterwards.

Also, there is a very small chance that Windows is hiding the .csr file extension, so all you are seeing is the file-name sans ".csr". But that's unlikely.