Exporting My Certificate

Headline: This describes how to export a certificate used to e-mail encrypted messages.

I’m in the process of trying out Microsoft Windows 8 along with Office 2013 Preview. But I still need to send some secure messages. I had some troubles the first time I did this and wish that I’d taken some good notes… so this second time I am.

certmgr.msc

To do this the only way I’ve found is to start certmgr.msc by typing it into the search of the start menu:

Note that it will not show up in the search results until you type the entire name correctly unlike many other programs.

Finding Your Certificate

I hope this is the same for everyone… My certificate was under the Personal certificates as shown here:

Exporting

Once you locate your certificate, right click and select All Tasks –> Export…

Then here is what the Certificate Export Wizard screens look like:

On the Export Private Key, select the “Yes, export the private key” option:

On the next page, the .PFX option should already be selected, but be sure to check the “Include all certificates in the certification path if possible” option.

IMPORTANT: If you do not select the “Include all certificates in the certification path if possible” option, then your certificate will not work properly after you import it. You will get an error message when you try to use your certificate.

Select a password you will remember…

Select a file to which you want to save the certificate:

Then select Finish:

Now you should be ready to import the certificate into your new environment. My next post will cover importing this certificate into Windows 8 and setting it up so that I can use it with Office 2013 Preview.