SSL Certificate Installation Guideline for IIS 7

A Complete Guideline to Install SSL Certificate on IIS 7 Web Server

Please click here if you still have not created a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and follow our instructions on how to successfully place an order.

How to Install an SSL Certificate using IIS 7

Step 1 – Open the zip folder that contains your certificate and save the file 'your_domain_name.cer' to the desktop of the web server you intend to secure.

Step 2 – To open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, go to the Windows Start Menu and click Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager

Step 3 –In Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager, select your servers 'Hostname' which is under 'Connections'

Step 4 – In the center menu of IIS, double-click the Server Certificates icon.

Step 5 – Under the Actions Menu, click on 'Complete Certificate Request' to open the Complete Certificate Request wizard.

Step 6 – In the 'Specify Certificate Authority Response' window shown below, under 'File name containing the certificate authority's', click … to browse for your .cer certificate file that your CA sent and click 'Open'.

Step 7 – Next, enter a 'Friendly Name' for the certificate in the box provided in the window as shown in the image above. The friendly name is for internal reference only and will not appear in the certificate.

We recommend adding the CA’s name and the certificate expiration date at the end of your friendly name to help identify the correct certificate.

Step 8 – Click on ‘OK’ to install the SSL certificate to the server.

Step 9 – Typically, after completing the certificate wizard, IIS will start using the new certificate and a restart is not necessary. To test installation, use our SSL Checker Tool or visit the secured URL with a browser other than Internet Explorer.

If the server still continues to deploy the old certificate or your website is having problems loading via HTTPS, please shutdown and restart the web server.

Error Messages in IIS 7: IIS 7 is known to generate one of the two following error messages: 'Cannot find the certificate request associated with this certificate file. A certificate request must be completed on the computer where it was created' or 'ASN1 bad tag value met.'

Solution: In most cases, if this is the same server where you generated the CSR, you can ignore the error message and close/reopen Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. This will refresh your list of server certificates and if the newly installed certificate is displayed, you can continue with the next SSL installation step.

However, if the new certificate is not in your server certificate list, please Re-Issue the certificate by performing the following:

Create a new CSR in IIS 7…for instructions, click here.
Login to your Dashboard via www.thesslstore.com
Locate your Active Certificate
Click Re-Issue Certificate
Repeat Installation with new SSL Certificate

Step 10 – After installing the SSL certificate to the server, the next step is to use IIS 7 to assign or bind the certificate to the appropriate website.

Step 11 – In 'Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager', under Connections, expand your server’s name & 'Sites' folder to select the appropriate website.

Step 12 – In the Action Menu, under 'Edit Sites', click on 'Bindings…'

Step 13 – Click on 'Add' from the 'Site Bindings' window.

Step 14 – Enter the following information in the ‘Add Site Bindings window, and click on 'OK':

Type: Select https from the drop-down list
IP Address: Select 'All unassigned'. However, if your server has multiple IP addresses, please select the one that applies.
Port: Unless using a non-standard port for SSL traffic, you always need to enter here the value '443'
SSL Certificate: From the drop-down menu, select the friendly name of the certificate you just installed.

Step 15 – Your SSL certificate is now installed and your website is configured to accept secure connections.

Troubleshooting

Typically, after completing the certificate wizard and editing the sites bindings, IIS will start using the new certificate and a restart is not necessary. To test installation, use our SSL Checker Tool or visit the secured URL with a browser other than Internet Explorer.

If the server still continues to deploy the old certificate or your website is having problems loading via HTTPS, please shutdown and restart the web server.

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