HostSEO Blog

Stories and News from IT Industry, Reviews & Tips | Technology Blog


Importing/Exporting certificates on Mac OS via Keychain

Before you proceed with actually installing your SSL, please ensure that you generated its CSR, activated and validated the SSL. The issued certificate files can be downloaded from your Namecheap account.

This article describes the process of creating a backup SSL Certificate in MacOS 10.15 as well as the creation of a PFX(p12, PKCS12) formatted certificate. It also features instructions for importing such certificates on the server.

How to Import Your PFX SSL Certificates

In order to import your SSL certificate, it needs to be available in a PFX format. A PFX file is a single, password-protected certificate store that contains the entire certificate chain plus the matching private key. If your certificate is in a different format, you will need to convert it. One option is to use this tool.

Note: The certificate can also be converted using OpenSSL command, the process of which is described here.

    1. Go to Finder >> Applications >> Utilities, then locate and open the Keychain Access application from the list.



    2. In the Keychain Access toolbar, choose File >> Import Items.

    3. In the new window, find the location of your PFX-formatted certificate:




      Click the Open button to proceed.

    4. Next, you will need to enter the password of your certificate file. The password was specified during the creation of the PFX file. If none was specified, feel free to leave the field blank.



      Click OK to complete the process.

    5. In the

Keychain Access

    1. window, located under the

Keychains

    1. sidebar, click

System

    1. and then under

Category

    1. , click

Certificates

    1. to view the imported certificate.





    1. The imported Certificate, Private key and the Certificates from the CA bundle chain will be available on the list in PEM format.

 

How to Export Your SSL Certificates

You may need to export your certificate for backup purposes or installation on a separate server. The following is instructions for this process.

  1. Open Keychain Access.

    Go to Finder >> Applications >> Utilities, then locate and open the Keychain Access application from the list.



  2. In the Keychain Access window, under the Keychains sidebar, click System and then under Category, click Certificates.



    Hold down the commandkey and then select your SSL Certificate (e.g. yourdomain.com) and the corresponding Intermediate Certificates (e.g. Sectigo RSA Domain Validation Secure Server CA, USERTrust RSA Certification Authority).

  3. In the Keychain Access toolbar, choose the File >> Export Items option.



  4. In the following export window, specify the following information:

    1. In the Save As: field write the name of the file ending with .p12 extension, which is another format of a PFX certificate.
    2. Click the arrow next to the Where box to specify the location in which the file will be saved. Make sure to choose a location that you will remember so you are able to access the file afterwards.
    3. In the File Format: drop down, make sure to choose the Personal information Exchange (.p12) format.




    Click the Save button to proceed to the next step.

  5. You will be prompted to specify a password for your certificate. Feel free to leave the field empty if you wish:



    Note: When you specify the password for the exported certificate and click the "OK" button, you will be prompted to enter the admin username and password of the OS. Once the correct credentials have been entered, you can save the certificate by clicking the "Save" button.

    Click the OK button to complete the process. Now your certificate will be available in the location you selected during step 4 of the process (saving the PFX file).

    Thatâ$™s it! If you have any questions, please contact our Support Team.

Subscribe Now

10,000 successful online businessmen like to have our content directly delivered to their inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter!

Archive Calendar

SatSunMonTueWedThuFri
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 

Born in 2004 ... Trusted By Clients n' Experts

SEO Stars

They never made me feel silly for asking questions. Help me understand how to attract more people and improve my search engine ranking.

Read More

Emily Schneller Manager at Sabre Inc
SEO Stars

Took advantage of Hostseo's superb tech support and I must say, it is a very perfect one. It is very fast, servers reliability is incredible.

Read More

Leena Mäkinen Creative producer
SEO Stars

We're operating a worldwide network of servers with high quality standards requirements, we’ve choose hostseo to be our perfect partner.

Read More

Ziff Davis CEO at Mashable
SEO Stars

It’s very comfortable to know I can rely about all technical issues on Hostseo and mostly that my website and emails are safe and secured here.

Read More

Isaac H. Entrepreneur
SEO Stars

With hostseo as a hosting partner we are more flexible and save money due to the better packages with great pricing, free SEO n' free SSL too!

Read More

Madeline E. Internet Professional