How to create a self-signed public certificate - Powershell

In this post, I describe how to create a self-signed public certificate using Powershell.

Resolution

To create a self-signed public certificate in the current user's certificate store, in a PowerShell prompt, enter the following (changing the certificate name as required):

$certname = "SelfSignedCertificate"

$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Subject "CN=$certname" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\CurrentUser\My" -KeyExportPolicy Exportable -KeySpec Signature -KeyLength 2048 -KeyAlgorithm RSA -HashAlgorithm SHA256

The certificate should now be visible in the Certificates MMC.

Export

To export the self-signed public certificate in .cer format using the $cert variable from the previous command, enter the following (changing the file path as required):

Export-Certificate -Cert $cert -FilePath "C:\Users\sysadmin\Desktop\$certname.cer"

This post was based on information from this Microsoft page:

- Create a self-signed public certificate to authenticate your application

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