Generate a iPhone certificate signing request on Windows

Generate a certificate signing request on Windows

For Windows developers, it may be easiest to obtain the iPhone developer certificate on a Mac computer. However, it is possible to obtain a certificate on a Windows computer. First, you create a certificate signing request (a CSR file) using OpenSSL:

1. Install OpenSSL on your Windows computer. (Go to http://www.openssl.org/related/binaries.html.)

   You may also need to install the Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable files, listed on the Open SSL download page. (You do not need Visual C++ installed on your computer.)

2. Open a Windows command session, and CD to the OpenSSL bin directory (such as c:\OpenSSL\bin\).

3. Create the private key by entering the following in the command line:

   openssl genrsa -out mykey.key 2048

   Save this private key file. You will use it later.

   When using OpenSSL, do not ignore error messages. If OpenSSL generates an error message, it may still output files. However, those files may not be usable. If you see errors, check your syntax and run the command again.

4. Create the CSR file by entering the following in the command line:

   openssl req -new -key mykey.key -out CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest  -subj "/emailAddress=yourAddress@example.com, CN=John Doe, C=US"

   Replace the e-mail address, CN (certificate name), and C (country) values with your own.

5. Upload the CSR file to Apple at the iPhone developer site. (See “Apply for an iPhone developer certificate and create a provisioning profile”.)