Question

How do I access via C# the keys stored in the Certificate Enrollment Requests store?

I tried using:

var requestCertStore = new X509Store("Certificate Enrollment Requests", 
                                     StoreLocation.LocalMachine);
requestCertStore.Open(OpenFlags.MaxAllowed);
var certs = requestCertStore.Certificates;

but the certs collection does not contain the certificate I’m looking to access in the “Certificate Enrollment Requests” store. I also don’t see any StoreName enum that corresponds to this store, so using the new X509Store(StoreName storeName, StoreLocation storeLocation) constructor isn’t an option.

Is it not possible to retrieve these certs via C#/.NET?

Answer 1

The solution is to use "REQUEST" instead of "Certificate Enrollment Requests":

var requestCertStore = new X509Store("REQUEST", StoreLocation.LocalMachine);
requestCertStore.Open(OpenFlags.MaxAllowed);
var certs = requestCertStore.Certificates;

I found the hint here: Delete a pending certificate request.