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Q293485: Error Message: Failed to Generate the Certificate Request

Article: Q293485
Product(s): Internet Information Server
Version(s): 5.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbOSWin2000
Last Modified: 26-FEB-2002

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Internet Information Services version 5.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

When you use the Web Server Certificate Wizard to create a Certificate Request,
the following error message may occur:

  Failed to Generate the Certificate Request.

  The string contains an invalid X500 name attribute key, oid, value or
  delimiter.

CAUSE
=====

This error occurs when you add invalid characters (such as a comma, hyphen, and
so on) to the Certificate Request in the Organization or Organizational Unit
fields. The most common cause of this problem is the use of a comma (,).

RESOLUTION
==========

A successful Certificate Request can only contain the characters A through Z
and/or 0 through 9 in the fields of the request. You can use a period (.) in the
common name of the key request to specify a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

If you must use a comma (,) and/or period (.) in the Organization Name, then you
need to enclose the Organization Name in quotes for X500 to allow the generation
of the request. For example:

  "Microsoft, Inc."

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information on IIS 4, click the article number below to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q282968 Error Message: 'Unable to generate a new key request' When Trying to
  Create a New Key Request with Key Manager

Additional query words: iis 5 ism

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbOSWin2000 
Technology        : kbiisSearch kbiis500
Version           : :5.0
Issue type        : kbprb
Solution Type     : kbpending

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