Certificates: is .cer enough?

Question

I am a little confused about certificates. I've installed the .p12 certificate to the system. Now I've exported the .cer file (as base 64).

The web service I connect to needs to be supplied the .cer file.

Does this mean that once the .cer file is exported, I can inunstall the certificate (.p12) from the registry? Or do they work hand in hand?

Thanks

Answer 1

Most likely, somebody will need the private key that corresponds to the certificate. If you delete the certificate from the store, you probably also delete (or atleast orphan) the private key. If it is deleted, it's gone for good, and the certificate becomes worthless.

You should export the certificate as a PKCS12 file (.p12), including the key, verify it really has the key (e.g. by importing it on a different machine, or with OpenSSL), and then you can consider deleting it from the store.