How to Create CSR for Your Code Signing Certificate [Guide]

Are you a programmer or firm that develops desktop, web, and mobile software or applications?

If yes, you must have planned to publish it online so that users can download and install it on their devices. But today, users only install and use software with proper security measures. This can easily be handled by integrating a code signing certificate into your software products.

A code signing certificate is a digital security certificate that assures users of the publisher’s authenticity. It assures that the software comes from verified publishers and has no malicious code. Moreover, these certificates are necessary to authenticate that your code has not been modified or altered since it was signed.

It has become essential for digital brands to purchase it from a reliable certificate authority like Certera, DigiCert, Comodo, Sectigo, or their trusted distributors. But what’s next after buying the certificate? The next step is to create CSR for code signing certificates.

Let’s understand what CSR is and how to create one:

What is CSR?

A CSR contains information about the code signing certificate requester in the encoded text. This information can include the publisher’s name, contact info, and other necessary data.

When you create CSR, it’ll generate two files: CSR, which will be requested during the enrollment, and private key, which is required during installation and shouldn’t be shared.

What’s the Next Step After Buying Code Signing Certificate?

After you purchase a code signing certificate from a respected CA or a trusted distributor, you next want to generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). A CSR is an encoded text created by the certificate requester and contains all the necessary information regarding the request. It can include:

• Common Name or name of requester or publisher for the certificate
• Contact info such as email address for getting in touch regarding the certificate
• The public key that is tied to the private key of your certificate

Once you provide this information while generating CSR, it’ll be sent to your respective CA to issue a code signing certificate. For instance, you have purchased a code signing certificate from Comodo or Sectigo CA. Now, you can generate a CSR, and while doing so, you’ll provide the above information to that respective CA.

When you create a CSR request, it states that your organization has requested the code signing certificate. Now let’s understand how to generate CSR for code signing:

How to Create CSR for a Code Signing Certificate?

Generating certificate signing requests is a simple process that can be completed using only certain browsers. For instance, you can successfully complete the CSR generation process in the Firefox browser as it has a unique feature for quick and easy CSR generation.

Here’s the step-by-step process you want to follow:

• Open your Firefox browser
• Next, log in to your account from where you purchased the code signing certificate.
• Once you get in, locate your code-signing certificate
• You’ll see a button: Generate Certificate, click on it
• Fill the vital information and click on submit
• Firefox will now generate the key pair once it is submitted

Once done, the CSR will be generated and sent to the CA directly, and you’ll get an order number for your CSR request. Now, you’ll need to validate your code signing certificate by following the guidelines set by your code signing CA.

This can include providing essential details about yourself and your organization to prove its legality.

The validation can take up to 1 to 5 business days, depending upon when you provide all the information and what type you’ve chosen. Once the CA verifies the information and validates your organization, you will get a code signing certificate on your registered email address.

Now, you only have to download your code signing certificate and save it on your computer.

Important note: Using the same computer and browser for the validation completion you used for creating CSR is recommended. This is because the private keys for code signing certificates are stored on the same computer used for CSR generation.

Wrapping Up

A code signing certificate is essential for any digital software and application developer to safeguard their intellectual property from prying eyes. As mentioned, CSR is a crucial encoded text that CAs refer to when validating and verifying your organization.

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