MSDN Home > Library > System > System.Net > System.Net.Security > CertificateSourceKind

CertificateSourceKind Enum

Namespace: System.Net.Security

Assembly: System.Net.Security.dll

Enum Value

Specifies the source of a client certificate.
Member name Description
Unknown The certificate source is unknown.
Hash The certificate is stored in the certificate store and identified by its hash.
Path The certificate is located in a file.
SubjectName The certificate is identified by its subject name.

Remarks

The CertificateSourceKind enumeration is used to indicate where a client certificate can be found. This is particularly relevant when configuring client authentication for secure network connections, such as those using TLS/SSL.

When a server requests a client certificate, the client application can specify the source of the certificate using one of the values from this enumeration. For example:

  • CertificateSourceKind.Hash is useful when you have the thumbprint or hash of a certificate that is already installed in the Windows certificate store.
  • CertificateSourceKind.Path is used when the certificate is stored in a file (e.g., a .pfx or .cer file).
  • CertificateSourceKind.SubjectName can be used to locate a certificate based on its subject name, although this is less common for direct programmatic use due to potential ambiguity.

The Unknown value indicates that the source of the certificate is not specified or is not applicable.

Requirements

Component Version
Supported in: .NET Framework 4.5, .NET Core 1.0, .NET Standard 1.3, UWP 10.0
Platform Windows, macOS, Linux

See Also

Example

The following example demonstrates how to specify a client certificate from a file path.

// This example assumes a certificate file named "client.pfx" exists.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Security;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

public class CertificateExample
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Replace with the actual path to your certificate file
        string certificatePath = @"C:\Certificates\client.pfx";
        string certificatePassword = "YourPassword";

        try
        {
            // Load the certificate from the file
            X509Certificate2 clientCertificate = new X509Certificate2(certificatePath, certificatePassword);

            // Create an HttpClient with the client certificate
            HttpClientHandler handler = new HttpClientHandler();
            handler.ClientCertificateOptions = ClientCertificateOption.Manual;
            handler.SslProtocols = System.Security.Authentication.SslProtocols.Tls12; // Specify desired TLS version

            // Although not directly using CertificateSourceKind here,
            // the X509Certificate2 object loaded from a path represents
            // a certificate identified by its source.

            // In a more complex scenario, you might use CertificateSourceKind
            // to determine how to obtain the certificate.
            CertificateSourceKind sourceKind = CertificateSourceKind.Path;

            // For demonstration, we'll just assign the loaded certificate.
            handler.ClientCertificates.Add(clientCertificate);

            using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient(handler))
            {
                // Configure the callback for server certificate validation if needed
                // client.BaseAddress = new Uri("https://your-secure-server.com");
                // var response = await client.GetAsync("/");
                // Console.WriteLine($"Response: {response.StatusCode}");

                Console.WriteLine("HttpClient configured with client certificate.");
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"An error occurred: {ex.Message}");
        }
    }
}