Create an association between the signed certificate and its corresponding key pair
This section shows how to associate the signed Microsoft SQL Server certificate with its corresponding private key stored in your Windows account profile. Before making this association, you must import the CA certificate that issued the Microsoft SQL Server certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities Windows certificate store.
Import the CA Certificate that issued the Microsoft SQL Server Certificate into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities Store
On the computer where you plan to install Microsoft SQL Server, open the Manage computer certificates program.
Right-click the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store and select All Tasks > Import.
Follow the steps in the Certificate Import Wizard to import the Root CA certificate file that you exported from the KMES and moved to this computer in the previous section.
You should see a confirmation message if the import is successful.
Associate the signed Microsoft SQL Server Certificate with its corresponding private key stored in the user's Windows account profile
Open either the command prompt or PowerShell.
Go to the directory where the you saved signed Microsoft SQL Server certificate file.
Run the following command to create an association between the signed Microsoft SQL Server certificate and its corresponding key pair stored in your Windows account profile:
If the command succeeds, information about the installed certificate displays the screen.