Nginx + Windows + SSL

Discussion in 'Application Software' started by Knives*, Dec 18, 2015.

  1. Knives*

    Knives* MDL Member

    Sep 21, 2013
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    Hi,

    I've been looking for tutorials on how to set up SSL on my home laptop web server. It is running Windows 7 and Nginx. So far I haven't found anything anywhere.

    Help would be nice.
     
  2. Knives*

    Knives* MDL Member

    Sep 21, 2013
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    Thanks, CHEF, but none of those helped.

    The first two links are tailored towards Linux users, like most videos I've come across on YouTube. The third link was close, but there wasn't enough detail towards creating a certificate in the command prompt for Windows users to say exactly what needs to be done. It simply said "open a command prompt as administrator and enter the following line", basically. And that would be all fine and dandy if the end result would work, but some details were missing which meant it failed. I even created a temporary "nginx-1.8.0\nginx" folder under the C:\ drive to give it a place to put the generated certificate. But it said openssl is not recognized. And the instructions did not give a scenario on how to circumvent the possible issue of that occurring.

    Regarding the let's encrypt website, I've known about them for over a month now and was anxiously awaiting for their December 3rd beta release to the public. But like most tutorials I've come across, they did not take into account that people running websites may be using Windows and not Linux. I couldn't find anything on their site that would help, so I gave up with them.
     
  3. Michaela Joy

    Michaela Joy MDL Crazy Lady

    Jul 26, 2012
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  4. Knives*

    Knives* MDL Member

    Sep 21, 2013
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    Thanks, Michaela Joy, but that article only talks about setting up a server using everything I am using, but nothing about SSL/certificates/encryption.

    It's a good article nonetheless, just not what I'm looking for. I've bookmarked it for future reference.
     
  5. Michaela Joy

    Michaela Joy MDL Crazy Lady

    Jul 26, 2012
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  6. Knives*

    Knives* MDL Member

    Sep 21, 2013
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    Thanks, MJ.

    I've come across that first link in the past. It was a bit much for me to understand and doesn't seem to give any user-friendly steps. Maybe I'm just too dumb. The second link is for Linux. The third link has potential. I'm having trouble understanding how to execute OpenSSL to generate the certificates. It never really explained how to execute the program to create them.

    I think I'll give it a break for now. Maybe I'll try it again in the future.

    Thank you for your research.
     
  7. CHEF-KOCH

    CHEF-KOCH MDL Expert

    Jan 7, 2008
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    The configuration options on Linux and Windows are exactly the same, if you edit the file on Windows or Linux doesn't matter so I don't know what you're problem is. The only difference are the binaries and possible some configurations which aren't present in Linux compared to Windows but in that case it's written in the document if that specific switch doesn't exist.

    I give a step by step instruction in my Let's encrypt guide which works the same on every OS,the only different is to clone the project but you can just right click and click 'download' (on GitHub) so you don't even need any fork client. The rest is bash/terminal and you don't even need any programs which possible can harm your security. There is also the video explanation and documentation so again I not really understand what could be the problem.

    It would be more helpful instead that we giving you random links that you post what you have done already and which errors or problems you run into. I not like such 'I have problems and advise what it could be thread, it's more helpful that we see your progress.