Creating a Self-Signed X.509 Certificate in C#

The Chilkat .NET component provides a free SysUtil class with a ShellExecuteW method that makes it easy to run programs from within a C# or VB.NET program. This example shows how to use the makecert.exe tool, which provided with the Microsoft .NET Platform SDK, to create a self-signed X.509 digital certificate.

/*  Flags for ShellExecuteW:
#define SW_HIDE             0
#define SW_SHOWNORMAL       1
#define SW_NORMAL           1
#define SW_SHOWMINIMIZED    2
#define SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED    3
#define SW_MAXIMIZE         3
#define SW_SHOWNOACTIVATE   4
#define SW_SHOW             5
#define SW_MINIMIZE         6
#define SW_SHOWMINNOACTIVE  7
#define SW_SHOWNA           8
#define SW_RESTORE          9
#define SW_SHOWDEFAULT      10
#define SW_FORCEMINIMIZE    11
#define SW_MAX              11
*/
int displayFlags = 0;
	
string x509Name = "CN=Acme Construction,";
x509Name += "O=Acme,";
x509Name += "L=Chicago,S=Illinois,C=US,E=acme@chilkatsoft.com";
	
string outputCertificateFile = "acme.cer";
	
string operation = "open";
string filename = "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\\SDK\\v2.0\\Bin\\makecert.exe";
string param = "-ss my -n \"" + x509Name + "\" " + outputCertificateFile;
string cwd = System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory();
	
// Run the makecert command.
Chilkat.SysUtil sysUtil = new Chilkat.SysUtil();
bool success = sysUtil.ShellExecuteW(operation, filename, param, cwd, displayFlags);
if (success)
{
MessageBox.Show("X.509 certificate created!");
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("Failed to create certificate.");
}

Note: The certificates created using this method are NOT trusted by the external world because they are not issued by a certificate authority.