Installing SSL certificates on Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 servers

This article shows how to install SSL certificates on Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 servers.

Note: Because SSL certificates changed little during the update from 2008 R2 to 2012, the instructions in this article apply to both versions.

Generate a certificate signing request (CSR)

1. Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Select the server name and then double-click Server Certificates.
3. Under Actions, click Create Certificate Request.
4. On the Distinguished Name Properties page of the Request Certificate wizard, complete all of the fields for your certificate and then click Next.
5. On the next page of the wizard, select a cryptographic service provider (the default is usually acceptable) and the bit length of the encryption key (the recommended minimum is 2048 bits). Then click Next.
6. On the File Name page, enter the location where you want to save the certificate request file, and then click Finish.

Install the certificate

1. After you get the certificate from your preferred SSL vendor, in the IIS Manager, select the server and double-click Server Certificates.
2. Under Actions, click Complete Certificate Request.
3. In the wizard, select the location of the certificate file, which is the same location you chose when generating the CSR in the preceding section.
4. (Windows Server 2012 only) Name the file and choose your store.
5. Click OK.

Set up the bindings

1. In the IIS Manager, right-click your site and select Edit Bindings.
2. In the Site Bindings window, click Add.
3. In the Add Site Binding dialog box, perform the following steps:
   1. Set the value of Type to https.
   2. (Windows Server 2012 only) Specify the host name, if necessary.
   3. From the SSL certificate list, select your certificate.
   4. Click OK.

After the binding is set up, the Site Bindings window shows the binding for HTTPS.

Import an SSL certificate

1. In the IIS Manager, double-click Server Certificates.
2. Under Actions, click Import.
3. Select the location of your certificate file, enter the password (if you set one), and choose your certificate store (Windows Server 2012 only). Then, click OK.