Accessing Certificate Properties

When you need to install a signed public key certificate in a keystore, you need the issuing CA's root certificate in the keystore as well. Your public key certificate is more than a single certificate; the same file contains the issuing CA's root certificate as well. If you do not receive a separate root certificate from the CA, you can access it from the public key certificate properties.

When you need to export a root certificate or examine the certificate's valid dates—or when you need to convert a certificate between DER and PEM formats—use the security extensions on a Windows machine to access the certificate properties dialog box .

To access certificate properties:

1. Double-click any certificate file with a .DER (binary format) extension or a .CER (PEM format) extension.

   This invokes the Windows extensions for security management, which open a dialog box so you can inspect the certificate properties.

2. (Optional.) Access the properties of the embedded root certificate.

   1. Select Certification Path.

      A tree structure appears, showing the hierarchical chain of trust between the public key certificate and its issuer root certificate. Your certificate has the common name that you supplied for it, and the issuer root certificate (its parent) has the name of its issuing CA.

   2. Select the root certificate, and click View Certificate.

      A dialog box display the properties of the root certificate.

3. (Optional.) Select Details.

   A list of fields appears. Click a field name to examine its value. This is especially useful for determining the certificate's Valid From and Valid To date and time.