Generating a Self Signed Certificate using Powershell

A self-signed certificate it's very easy to create and helps with our local development and testing.

With a Single Line of PowerShell code, we create a certificate.

First, open the PowerShell as Administrator and run the following command:

New-SelfSignedCertificate `
   –DnsName <DNS-Name> `
   -CertStoreLocation "cert:\LocalMachine\My"

The default expiration is 1 year. If you want a custom expiration date use option -NotAfter.

New-SelfSignedCertificate `
   –DnsName <DNS-Name> `
   -CertStoreLocation "cert:\LocalMachine\My" `
   -NotAfter [System.DateTime]::AddYears(3)

That is it. Done!! The certificate was created and stored in our Certificate Store of Windows.

Note the parameter "CertStoreLocation", this is where the cert will be stored. cert:\LocalMachine means Local Machine Cert store.

Now, let's export it as a .pfxfile into a local directory.
In the same Powershell window run the following commands.

#create a password for our cert
$pwd = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "SOME-PASSWORD" -Force -AsPlainText

#finds the certificate in our local store
$cert = Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\LocalMachine\my | where Subject -eq "CN=rmauro.dev" 

#exports the certificate to temp directory
Export-PfxCertificate -FilePath c:\temp\rmauro.dev.pfx -Password $pwd -Cert $cert

In my scenario, the cert name is rmauro.dev. Change it to yours.
Check the directory temp to find the certificate - rmauro.dev.pfx.

Leave a comment if you like it or dislike.

Also check out my blog https://rmauro.dev.