Importing Self-signed CA Certificate into Windows 7

Yesterday I opted to create self-signed certificates for my local servers. Most of my local servers already had self-signed certificates with default names so it looked like a simple task. I found this document, Creating Certificate Authorities and self-signed SSL certificates, and in a few minutes I created a new Certificate Authority and replaced my existing server certificate. I checked the site via my web browser and it complained about needing the Certificate Authority certificate. So I copied the CA certificate to my PC and imported it into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities using IE8. Despite a message saying it succeeded, it really didn’t import the certificate. I re-started the browser and re-started the computer but the certificate refused to show up. I finally opted to login as the Administrator and install the certificate to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities of the computer account. I suspect that the key requirement is to import into the computer account. For those unfamiliar with the process you open a command window and run “mmc”. Next you click File-Add Snapin and add the Certificates Snap-in. When you add the plug-in it will prompt you to select which account you want to update. Select the computer account, the local system, and click to add the Snapin. Now navigate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities and import the CA certificate.