CertOpenSystemStore

A version of this page is also available for

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

4/8/2010

This function is a simplified function used to open the most common system certificate store. To open certificate stores with more complex requirements, such as file-based or memory-based stores, use the CertOpenStore function.

Syntax

HCERTSTORE WINAPI CertOpenSystemStore(
  HCRYPTPROV hProv,
  LPCTSTR szSubsystemProtocol
);

Parameters

• hProv
  [in] HCRYPTPROV handle to a cryptographic service provider (CSP). Set the hProv parameter to NULL to use the default CSP. If hProv is not NULL, it must be a CSP handle created using the CryptAcquireContext function.

• szSubsystemProtocol
  [in] Null-terminated string that contains the name of a system store. The following table shows example system stores.

  Predefined system store	Description
  CA	Certifying authority certificates.
  MY	A certificate store holding MY certificates and their associated private keys.
  ROOT	Root certificates.

  If the system store name provided in this parameter is not the name of an existing system store, a new system store will be created and used. The CertEnumSystemStore function can be used to list the names of existing system stores.

Return Value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a read-only handle to the certificate store.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL. For extended error information, call the GetLastError function. Note that errors from the called CertOpenStore function are propagated to this function.

Remarks

After the system store is opened, all the standard certificate store functions can be used to manipulate the certificates.

If certificates need to be deleted, use CertOpenStore instead.

After use, the store should be closed by using the CertCloseStore function.

Requirements

See Also

Reference

HCRYPTPROV
CertAddEncodedCertificateToStore
CertCloseStore
CertEnumSystemStore
CertGetCertificateContextProperty
CertOpenStore
CertSaveStore
CryptAcquireContext