Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • Administrative access to the Windows Server
  • IIS Manager installed
  • The SSL certificate file (usually .cer or .p7b)
  • The CSR must have been generated on the same server

Step 1 — Complete Certificate Request

If you generated the CSR through IIS, you need to "Complete Certificate Request" to install the certificate.

  1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. In the Connections panel, select your server name.
  3. Double-click Server Certificates in the center menu.
  4. In the Actions panel on the right, click Complete Certificate Request....
  5. Browse for your certificate file, provide a friendly name (e.g., MyDomain SSL), and select Web Hosting as the certificate store.
  6. Click OK. The certificate should now appear in the list.
⚠️
Missing Private Key? If you see the certificate but it doesn't have a private key associated, it means the CSR was not generated on this server or the process was interrupted. You may need to import a .pfx file instead.

Step 2 — Bind SSL to Your Website

Once the certificate is installed on the server, you must bind it to your specific website.

  1. In the Connections panel, expand Sites and select your website.
  2. In the Actions panel, click Bindings....
  3. Click Add....
  4. Set Type to https, IP address to All Unassigned (or your specific IP), and Port to 443.
  5. Select your SSL certificate from the dropdown menu.
  6. Click OK and then Close.

Step 3 — (Optional) Setup HTTP to HTTPS Redirect

To force all traffic to HTTPS, you can use the URL Rewrite module:

  1. Select your site in IIS Manager and open URL Rewrite.
  2. Click Add Rule(s)... -> Blank Rule.
  3. Match URL: (.*)
  4. Conditions: {HTTPS} matches the pattern off.
  5. Action: Redirect to https://{HTTP_HOST}/{R:1} with type Permanent (301).

Step 4 — Verify Installation

Open your browser and navigate to https://yourdomain.com. Ensure the padlock icon is visible. You can also use our SSL Checker to verify the intermediate chain is correctly installed.