Test-Certificate

Verifies a certificate according to the input parameters.

Syntax

Test-Certificate
    [-Policy <TestCertificatePolicy>]
    [-User]
    [-EKU <String[]>]
    [-DNSName <String>]
    [-AllowUntrustedRoot]
    [-Cert] <Certificate>
    [<CommonParameters>]

Description

The Test-Certificate cmdlet verifies a certificate according to input parameters. The revocation status of the certificate is verified by default. If the AllowUntrustedRoot parameter is specified, then a certificate chain is built but an untrusted root is allowed. Other errors are still verified against in this case, such as expired. If the DNSName parameter is used, then the DNS subject alternative name is used to verify SSL policy. If the EKU parameter is used, then the specified application policy object identifiers are used to verify the chain. If the User parameter is used, then the specified user context is used is to build and verify the chain.

Delegation may be required when using this cmdlet with Windows PowerShell remoting and changing user configuration.

Examples

EXAMPLE 1

Get-ChildItem -Path Cert:\LocalMachine\My |
    Test-Certificate -Policy SSL -DNSName 'dns=contoso.com'

This example verifies each certificate in the MY store of the local machine and verifies that it is valid for SSL with the DNS name specified.

EXAMPLE 2

$params = @{
    Cert = 'Cert:\CurrentUser\My\191C46F680F08A9E6EF3F6783140F60A979C7D3B'
    AllowUntrustedRoot = $true
    EKU = '1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1'
    User = $true
}
Test-Certificate @params

This example verifies that the provided EKU is valid for the specified certificate and its chain. Revocation checking is not performed.

Parameters

-AllowUntrustedRoot

Specifies whether the root certificate is required to be trusted in chain building. When this parameter is used, the certificate chain is built but an untrusted root is allowed. Other errors are still verified against in this case, such as expired. If this parameter is not specified, then revocation status is checked by default.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Cert

Specifies the certificate to test. Either the certificate object or a path to the certificate in a certificate store can be specified.

Type:Microsoft.CertificateServices.Commands.Certificate
Aliases:PsPath
Position:0
Default value:None
Required:True
Accept pipeline input:True
Accept wildcard characters:False

-DNSName

Specifies the DNS name to verify as valid for the certificate.

If this parameter is specified but not the Policy parameter, then the CERT_CHAIN_POLICY_SSL policy is applied and the DNS name is validated for the certificate. If a CERT_CHAIN_POLICY_SSL policy does not exist, then the cmdlet will fail.

If this parameter is not used and the Policy parameter is not specified, the default CERT_CHAIN_POLICY_BASE policy is applied.

Type:String
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-EKU

Specifies a list of enhanced key usage (EKU) object identifiers to verify for the certificate chain.

Type:String[]
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-Policy

Specifies the policies that will be applied to verify the certificate. The acceptable values for this parameter are: AUTHENTICODE, BASE, NTAUTH, and SSL. If this parameter is not specified, then the BASE policy is used.

Type:Microsoft.CertificateServices.Commands.TestCertificatePolicy
Accepted values:BASE, SSL, AUTHENTICODE, NTAUTH
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

-User

Specifies whether the user or machine context is used to test the certificate. If this parameter is not specified, then the machine context is used.

Type:SwitchParameter
Position:Named
Default value:None
Required:False
Accept pipeline input:False
Accept wildcard characters:False

Inputs

Microsoft.CertificateServices.Commands.Certificate

The Certificate object can either be provided as a Path object to a certificate or an X509Certificate2 object.

Outputs

Boolean

If the verification succeeds, then the return value is True; otherwise the return value is False.