Issue with Sitecore 9 certificate missing private key

Question

Trying my best to get my Sitecore 9 instance running on Windows 8.1 with IIS 8.5. As mentioned in Sitecore guide, I am noticing lot of issues while installation.

After solving a few of them, I ended up now with below. I have no clue why the certificate is missing a private key. I have cloned the certificate from what Sitecore has created under Trusted Root with name DO_NOT_TRUST_SitecoreRootCert.

At 4:00 AM in the morning, I see no point in fighting this battle alone. So, calling out to my community for help!!!

[------------------------------------------------------------- 
SetAppPoolCertStorePermissions : FilePermissions ---------------------------
-------------------------------------------------]
VERBOSE: Resolving ConfigFunction extension 'ResolveCertificatePath'
VERBOSE: Resolved 'Invoke-ResolveCertificatePathConfigFunction'
VERBOSE: Resolving ConfigFunction extension 'joinpath'
VERBOSE: Resolved 'Invoke-JoinPathConfigFunction'
VERBOSE: Resolving ConfigFunction extension 'GetCertificateThumbprint'
VERBOSE: Resolved 'Invoke-GetCertificateThumbprintConfigFunction'
VERBOSE: Invoke-GetCertificateConfigFunction
VERBOSE: Id: xp0.xconnect_client
VERBOSE: CertStorePath: Cert:\Localmachine\My
VERBOSE: Found Cert with thumbprint:         
0DF036C9C10365E9A81F5A93990E1A3688584DC2
VERBOSE: Invoke-JoinPathConfigFunction
VERBOSE: Joining: Cert:\Localmachine\My     
0DF036C9C10365E9A81F5A93990E1A3688584DC2
VERBOSE: Result: 
Cert:\Localmachine\My\0DF036C9C10365E9A81F5A93990E1A3688584DC2
VERBOSE: Invoke-ResolveCertificatePathConfigFunction
VERBOSE: Resolving path:     
Cert:\Localmachine\My\0DF036C9C10365E9A81F5A93990E1A3688584DC2
Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Unable to parse     
[ResolveCertificatePath(variable('Security.XConnect.CertificatePath'))] - 
Exception calling "InvokeWithContext" with "2" argument(s): "The 
running command stopped because the preference variable 
"ErrorActionPreference" or common parameter is set to Stop: Certificate 
Cert:\Localmachine\My\0DF036C9C10365E9A81F5A93990E1A3688584DC2 does not 
contain Private Key. Ensure that it has been exported with the Private Key."
At D:\software\Sitecore\Sitecore 9\sc9pckg\Install.ps1:43 char:1
+ Install-SitecoreConfiguration @xconnectParams -Verbose
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error],     
WriteErrorException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId :     
Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Install-
SitecoreConfiguration

Answer 1

The "secret" is in the Installation Guide, but you have to jump ahead to Section 5.1 and 5.2. When I then created this PowerShell script:

#define parameters
$prefix = "xp0"
$PSScriptRoot = "D:\downloads\sitecore\sif"
$XConnectCollectionService = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreSiteName = "$prefix.sc"
$SolrUrl = "https://localhost:8983/solr"
$SolrRoot = "D:\solr\solr-6.6.1"
$SolrService = "solr6"
$SqlServer = "."
$SqlAdminUser = "sitecore"
$SqlAdminPassword="sitecore" 

#install client certificate for xconnect
$certParams = @{
     Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-createcert.json"
     CertificateName = "$prefix.xconnect_client"
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @certParams -Verbose 

#install solr cores for xdb
$solrParams = @{
     Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-solr.json"
     SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
     SolrRoot = $SolrRoot
     SolrService = $SolrService
     CorePrefix = $prefix
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams 

#deploy xconnect instance
$xconnectParams = @{
     Path = "$PSScriptRoot\xconnect-xp0.json"
     Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.0 rev. 171002 (OnPrem)_xp0xconnect.scwdp.zip"
     LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
     Sitename = $XConnectCollectionService
     XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName
     SqlDbPrefix = $prefix
     SqlServer = $SqlServer
     SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser
     SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword
     SolrCorePrefix = $prefix
     SolrURL = $SolrUrl
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @xconnectParams 

#install solr cores for sitecore
$solrParams = @{
     Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-solr.json"
     SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
     SolrRoot = $SolrRoot
     SolrService = $SolrService
     CorePrefix = $prefix
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @solrParams 

#install sitecore instance
$xconnectHostName = "$prefix.xconnect"
$sitecoreParams = @{
    Path = "$PSScriptRoot\sitecore-XP0.json"
    Package = "$PSScriptRoot\Sitecore 9.0.0 rev. 171002 (OnPrem)_single.scwdp.zip" 
    LicenseFile = "$PSScriptRoot\license.xml"
    SqlDbPrefix = $prefix
    SqlServer = $SqlServer
    SqlAdminUser = $SqlAdminUser
    SqlAdminPassword = $SqlAdminPassword
    SolrCorePrefix = $prefix
    SolrUrl = $SolrUrl
    XConnectCert = $certParams.CertificateName
    Sitename = $sitecoreSiteName
    XConnectCollectionService = "https://$XConnectCollectionService"
}
Install-SitecoreConfiguration @sitecoreParams

. Kam also created an excellent blog post: https://kamsar.net/index.php/2017/10/All-about-xConnect-Security/

Also look into SIFless - http://www.rockpapersitecore.com/2017/10/introducing-sif-less-for-easy-sitecore-9-installation/

Answer 2

Use latest version of Sitecore Installation Framework (SIF) 1.2 which is solving issue with certificate creation on Windows Server 2012 R2.

See release notes here -> https://dev.sitecore.net/Downloads/Sitecore%20Installation%20Framework/1x/Sitecore%20Installation%20Framework%2012/Release%20Notes

SIF 1.2 Download page -> https://dev.sitecore.net/Downloads/Sitecore_Installation_Framework/1x/Sitecore_Installation_Framework_12.aspx

Answer 3

I basically experience the same exact issue on a Windows 8.1 machine. All prerequisites were installed including Powershell 5.1, Solr with SSL.

Sadly I wasn't able to overcome it. I tried running Windows updates until no more of those were available but no luck.

I tried the same process in a Windows 10 machine and the SIF scripts worked very smoothly.

If possible please update your machine OS to Windows 10 (with all its updates up to date), for sure it will work then.