Web Server Certificate Wizard incorrectly indicates that the certificate request is successful in IIS 6.0

When you generate a certificate request by using the Web Server Certificate Wizard in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, and then you click Send the request immediately to an online certification authority, the wizard finishes. The wizard also indicates that the certificate request was successful. However, that the certificate is not installed. Additionally, the View Certificate option is unavailable.

To work around this problem, click Prepare a New Request but Send it Later when you reach the Delayed or Immediate Request page in the Web Server Certificate Wizard. Do not click Send the request immediately to an online certification authority.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

When a user submits a request to an online certification authority, the request is sent from the computer that is running IIS to the online certification authority. If the certificate request is processed successfully, IIS receives a notification from the certification authority that states that the request has been processed and that the certificate is installed on the IIS-based computer. The Web Server Certificate Wizard displays a message that states that the process was successful.

However, the problem that this article mentions occurs because the notification that is sent to the Web Server Certificate Wizard is always overwritten with a "Success" notification, even if any part of the processing of the request was unsuccessful. If a problem occurs between the time when the user uses the Web Server Certificate Wizard to submit a request and the time when the notification about the status is sent back to IIS, the problem is reported to IIS. However, the Web Server Certificate Wizard always displays a message that states that the Web Server Certificate Wizard has completed successfully and the certificate is installed.

To work around this problem, submit the request manually to the certification authority, and then manually install the certificate in the certificate store by using the IIS Certificate Wizard after you receive the .cer file from the certification authority. The "Workaround" section describes how to do this.

For additional information about how to install certificates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For additional information about how to access the Help feature through Internet Information Services Manager to install certificates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: