The Most Common OpenSSL Commands General OpenSSL Commands These commands allow you to generate CSRs, Certificates, Private Keys and do other miscellaneous tasks. Generate a new private key and Certificate Signing Request openssl req -out CSR.csr -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout privateKey.key Generate a self-signed certificate (see How to Create and Install an Apache Self Signed Certificate for more info) openssl req -x509 -sha256 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privateKey.key -out certificate.crt Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for an existing private key openssl req -out CSR.csr -key privateKey.key -new Generate a certificate signing request based on an existing certificate openssl x509 -x509toreq -in certificate.crt -out CSR.csr -signkey privateKey.key Remove a passphrase from a private key openssl rsa -in privateKey.pem -out newPrivateKey.pem Checking Using OpenSSL If you need to check the information within a Certificate, CSR or Private Key, use these commands. You can also check CSRs and check certificates using our online tools. Check a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) openssl req -text -noout -verify -in CSR.csr Check a private key openssl rsa -in privateKey.key -check Check a certificate openssl x509 -in certificate.crt -text -noout Check a PKCS#12 file (.pfx or .p12) openssl pkcs12 -info -in keyStore.p12 Debugging Using OpenSSL If you are receiving an error that the private doesn't match the certificate or that a certificate that you installed to a site is not trusted, try one of these commands. If you are trying to verify that an SSL certificate is installed correctly, be sure to check out the SSL Checker. Check an MD5 hash of the public key to ensure that it matches with what is in a CSR or private key openssl x509 -noout -modulus -in certificate.crt | openssl md5 openssl rsa -noout -modulus -in privateKey.key | openssl md5 openssl req -noout -modulus -in CSR.csr | openssl md5 Check an SSL connection. All the certificates (including Intermediates) should be displayed openssl s_client -connect www.paypal.com:443 Converting Using OpenSSL These commands allow you to convert certificates and keys to different formats to make them compatible with specific types of servers or software. For example, you can convert a normal PEM file that would work with Apache to a PFX (PKCS#12) file and use it with Tomcat or IIS. Use our SSL Converter to convert certificates without messing with OpenSSL. Convert a DER file (.crt .cer .der) to PEM openssl x509 -inform der -in certificate.cer -out certificate.pem Convert a PEM file to DER openssl x509 -outform der -in certificate.pem -out certificate.der Convert a PKCS#12 file (.pfx .p12) containing a private key and certificates to PEM openssl pkcs12 -in keyStore.pfx -out keyStore.pem -nodes You can add -nocerts to only output the private key or add -nokeys to only output the certificates. Convert a PEM certificate file and a private key to PKCS#12 (.pfx .p12) openssl pkcs12 -export -out certificate.pfx -inkey privateKey.key -in certificate.crt -certfile CACert.crt Source