How do I import a certificate in ProVide?

You import a certificate from the Certificates area of the ProVide Administration interface: click Import, select your certificate (and its key or password), then set it as the default. ProVide accepts a separate certificate and key file, or a combined file such as a .pfx that already includes the private key.

Two things to check first: if you run ProVide under a domain service account, make sure that account has full access to the certificates installed on your server. And note that you don’t have to import at all if the certificate is already in the Windows machine store, ProVide can use it directly from there.

Instructions #

1. In ProVide Administration, go to Certificates.
2. Click Import, then follow the path that matches your files: Separate certificate and key file: In the first window, select the certificate (for example secure.company.com.cer) and click Open. In the second window, select the key file (for example secure.company.com.key) and click Open. Certificate with the key included (e.g. .pfx): In the first window, select the certificate (for example secure.company.com.pfx) and click Open. In the second window, enter the password for the private key and click OK.
3. Confirm it loaded. The server log should show: Certificate successfully loaded: “secure.company.com”.
4. Select the certificate in the list and click Set as default.
5. Click Close to save.

Certificate chains #

ProVide has strong support for certificate chains. Place all the intermediate files directly in the certificates folder, and ProVide detects and uses them to load a complete chain when needed. If a chain doesn’t load fully, check the server log to see which certificate is missing.