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How to generate a CSR in Plesk

Plesk makes the CSR and keeps the private key on your server. The important thing is to keep the certificate entry it creates, because you install your issued certificate into that same entry.

1. Open Websites & Domains, find your domain and click SSL/TLS Certificates.
2. Click Add SSL/TLS Certificate.
3. Give it a name you will recognise, for example example.com 2026.
4. Set Bits to 2048.
5. For Country, choose United Kingdom, which Plesk records as GB. If your version asks you to type a code, type GB, never UK. Fill in the other boxes with your details.
6. In Domain name, type exactly the name on your order. For a wildcard it starts *., for example *.example.com.
7. Click Request. This creates the private key and the CSR and keeps the key safe.
8. Click the name of the certificate you just made. The CSR text is shown there. Copy all of it, including the BEGIN and END lines, and paste it into your order.

Menu names can differ slightly between Plesk versions. When your certificate is issued, install it into this same entry.

What we check when you paste it in

• Key size: 2048-bit RSA is what you want. 4096-bit is also accepted. 1024-bit is refused.
• Common name: it must match the domain on your order exactly. For a wildcard certificate it must begin *., for example *.example.com.
• Country: if you enter one, use the two-letter code. For the United Kingdom that is GB, not UK.

If something is wrong we tell you straight away, all at once, so you can make a new CSR and paste it in. Our free CSR decoder shows what is inside a CSR before you order.

More in this section

• How to generate a CSR in cPanel
• How to generate a CSR with OpenSSL (Apache and nginx)
• How to generate a CSR in Windows IIS

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