How to Use PowerShell to Create a Self-Signed Digital Certificate to Test Digital Signing with InstallShield

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Introduction

This article discusses how to use PowerShell to create a self-signed digital certificate to test digital signing with InstallShield. Note that this article has you create a test certificate, not usually meant for production use. This test certificate can be handy for determining whether a digital signing issue is specific to the actual production digital certificate or is reproducible with more than one digital certificate.

Instructions

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Open an Administrator PowerShell command prompt.

2. Run the following PowerShell command:

   $cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Subject "MySelfSignedCertXYZ" -Type CodeSigningCert -CertStoreLocation cert:\CurrentUser\My -KeyExportPolicy ExportableEncrypted -NotAfter (Get-Date).AddMonths(480) -KeyUsage None

3. Open the certificate manager for the current user by running the following command from Windows > Run:

   certmgr.msc

4. Navigate to Personal > Certificates.

5. Drag the MySelfSignedCertXYZ digital certificate from Personal > Certificates then drop it in Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates.

6. Create a new Basic MSI test project in the InstallShield IDE.

7. Configure the Signing Tab like in your full project, except with the MySelfSignedCertXYZ digital certificate selected from the certificate store instead of your actual digital certificate.

8. Build the project.

More Information

If this article does not resolve the digital signing issue and the InstallShield version being used is prior to InstallShield 2023 R2, please navigate to Preliminary Troubleshooting Steps for Digital Signing Issues prior to InstallShield 2023 R2.

For more information about digital signing with Extended Validation (EV) digital certificates, specific to InstallShield 2023 R2, please review the documentation here.