How can I install a certificate into the local machine store programmatically using c#?

Question

I have a certificate generated via MakeCert. I want to use this certificate for WCF message security using PeerTrust. How can I programmatically install the certificate into the "trusted people" local machine certificate store using c# or .NET?

I have a CER file, but can also create a PFX.

Answer 1

I believe that this is correct:

using (X509Store store = new X509Store(StoreName.TrustedPeople, StoreLocation.LocalMachine)) 
{
   store.Open(OpenFlags.ReadWrite);
   store.Add(cert); //where cert is an X509Certificate object
}

Answer 2

The following works good for me:

private static void InstallCertificate(string cerFileName)
{
    X509Certificate2 certificate = new X509Certificate2(cerFileName);
    X509Store store = new X509Store(StoreName.TrustedPublisher, StoreLocation.LocalMachine);

    store.Open(OpenFlags.ReadWrite);
    store.Add(certificate);
    store.Close();
}

Answer 3

Instead of installing the certificate to LocalMachine which requires elevated privileges you can add it to "CurrentUser" (works for me).

X509Store store = new X509Store(StoreName.TrustedPeople, StoreLocation.CurrentUser);
store.Open(OpenFlags.ReadWrite);
store.Add(cert); //where cert is an X509Certificate object
store.Close();

Answer 4

I had to use X509KeyStorageFlags.PersistKeySet | X509KeyStorageFlags.MachineKeySet flags to resolve "Keyset does not exist" error that occurred later on attempt to use the certificate:

X509Certificate2 certificate = new X509Certificate2(pfxPath, password, X509KeyStorageFlags.PersistKeySet | X509KeyStorageFlags.MachineKeySet);
using (X509Store store = new X509Store(StoreName.My, StoreLocation.LocalMachine))
{
     store.Open(OpenFlags.ReadWrite);
     store.Add(certificate);
     store.Close();
}

Thanks to this article: Private key of certificate in certificate-store not readable