How do I make OpenSSL write the RANDFILE on Windows Vista?

Question

When I run:

openssl genrsa -out mykey.key 2048

I get the following error:

unable to write 'random state'
    e is 65537 (0x10001)

My googling suggests this is some kind of Vista permissions issue. How can I allow Vista to write this file or how can I configure openssl to get round it?

Answer 1

I found this that might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/94445/using-openssl-what-does-unable-to-write-random-state-mean

also, here: http://adamyoung.net/OpenSSL-unable-to-write-random-state

there is a suggestion here http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg51344.html on how to get it working in vista.

find the location of cmd.exe, right click and run as administrator

Answer 2

add a HOME variable into your Environment Variables.

Answer 3

The root issue is that the RANDFILE variable in the OpenSSL configuration file is ignored on Windows. This has been a long-standing problem that continues to exist as of the OpenSSL v1.0a release, regardless of whether the target Windows platform is x86 or x64.

There is a delightfully simple solution, though. Merely use a regular environmental var to set the RANDFILE value, like

set RANDFILE=.rnd

Because this value is ephemeral, it must be re-issued for every new DOS box, or scripted in a batch file.