Makecert missing from Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015 install?

Question

I did a clean install of windows 10 and visual studio 2015 and did not find makecert.exe anywhere. Does some other software need to be installed to get this program back?

Answer 1

As ShaneH answers in this question makecert.exe has been deprecated, and we should use powershell commandlet New-SelfSignedCertificate.

New-SelfSignedCertificate -Subject "CN=Test Code Signing" -Type CodeSigningCert -KeySpec "Signature" -KeyUsage "DigitalSignature" -FriendlyName "Test Code Signing" -NotAfter (get-date).AddYears(5)

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For older versions of PS, one can get this script from TechNet: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Self-signed-certificate-5920a7c6

To make my answer full, below is brief explanation how to use the TechNet script:

1. Navigate to link above and download New-SelfSignedCertificateEx.zip file
2. Unzip it somewhere
3. Run PowerShell console and navigate to location with new file
4. Run command .\New-SelfSignedCertificateEx to call function. Remember to append necessary parameters.

.\New-SelfsignedCertificateEx -Subject "CN=Test Code Signing" -EKU "Code Signing" -KeySpec "Signature" -KeyUsage "DigitalSignature" -FriendlyName "Test code signing" -NotAfter [datetime]::now.AddYears(5)

Two additional notes if you are having problem with this tool.

1. If PowerShell moans that scripts are disabled, run console as administrator and call this: Set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted
2. If PowerShell still refuses to run it, make sure you've prepended .\ (dot-slash) before the name of the file, as this is necessary.