SSL Certificates with special characters in the password fail to import into ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Portal Administrator Directory endpoints

Description

When attempting to import a CA-signed certificate in .pfx format into the ArcGIS Portal Administrator Directory or ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory endpoints, the operation may appear to succeed even if the .pfx file was exported using a password that contains special characters, such as an exclamation point (!), the at sign (@), the hash symbol (#), and so forth.

• Example password: Pass!@653

The import process completes without any visible errors. However, if the password includes special characters, the certificate is not recognized or accepted, and it does not appear in the list of imported certificates, effectively resulting in a failed import.

Cause

The issue arises due to the way ArcGIS Portal and ArcGIS Server Admin APIs handle password strings during the SSL certificate import process.

While exporting a .pfx file from IIS Manager or other certificate tools, if the password includes special characters, these characters may not be parsed correctly by the ArcGIS REST Admin interface, causing the import to silently fail or return an error.

Solution or Workaround

To successfully import the .pfx certificate into ArcGIS Portal and ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory endpoints, follow the steps below:

1. Re-export the certificate from IIS Manager:
   1. Open IIS Manager.
   2. Navigate to Server Certificates.
   3. Select the .pfx certificate, right click on it and choose to Export.
   4. When prompted to set a password, use only alphanumeric characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9).
      • Example: Pass653
        Avoid using any special characters.
2. Import the re-exported certificate. Once re-exported with a clean alphanumeric password, import the certificate in to ArcGIS Portal Administrator Directory using below steps:
   1. Log in to the ArcGIS Portal Administrator Directory Endpoint as an Administrator. The URL is in the format: https://<portal-domain>:7443/arcgis/portaladmin.
   2. Click Security > SSLCertificates > Import Existing Server Certificate.
   3. Upload the .pfx file and provide the alphanumeric password. Click Import.
3. Import the certificate in to ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory using below steps:
   1. Log in to the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory Endpoint. The URL is in the format: (https://<server-domain>:6443/arcgis/admin).
   2. Navigate to machines > [machine name] > sslcertificates.
   3. Click importExistingServerCertificate.
   4. Upload the .pfx file and provide the alphanumeric password.
   5. Click Import.

The certificate should now be successfully imported without any errors.