Add the Root Certificate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities (2024)

Procedure

1. On the Active Directory server, navigate to the Group Policy Management plug-in.

   AD Version	Navigation Path
   Windows 2003	Select Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers. Right-click your domain and click Properties. On the Group Policy tab, click Open to open the Group Policy Management plug-in. Right-click Default Domain Policy, and click Edit.
   Windows 2008	Select Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management. Expand your domain, right-click Default Domain Policy, and click Edit.
   Windows 2012R2	Select Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management. Expand your domain, right-click Default Domain Policy, and click Edit.
   Windows 2016	Select Start > Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management. Expand your domain, right-click Default Domain Policy, and click Edit.

2. Expand the Computer Configuration section and open Windows Settings\Security Settings\Public Key.
3. Right-click Trusted Root Certification Authorities and select Import.
4. Follow the prompts in the wizard to import the root certificate (for example, rootCA.cer) and click OK.
5. Close the Group Policy window.

Results

All of the systems in the domain now have a copy of the root certificate in their trusted root store.

What to do next

If an intermediate certification authority (CA) issues your smart card login or domain controller certificates, add the intermediate certificate to the Intermediate Certification Authorities group policy in Active Directory. See Add an Intermediate Certificate to Intermediate Certification Authorities.