I always forget the command line to do this, so I’m going to post it in my own blog.

The way to set a specific certificate name, so you can find it within Windows Azure after it is registered, is using the Certificate Creation Tool (makecert.exe) to create an X.509 certificate:

– Open the Visual Studio Command Prompt window as an administrator.

– Change the directory to location where you want to save the certificate file.

– Type the following command:

makecert -sky exchange -r -n “CN=MyCertificateName” -pe -a sha1 -len 2048 -ss My “MyCertificateName.cer”

Where MyCertificateName is the name that you want to use for the certificate. It must have a .cer extension.

– After generating the .cer, you must install it into your machine if you want to use it for Windows Azure signing, etc.

To do so, it must be installed within the ‘Certificates (Local Computer) –> Personal –> Certificates.

You can do this using the Certificates Snap-in, you know, mmc.exe –> Add Snap-in –> Certificates –> Local Computer, etc.

After registering the certificate into your machine, you might want to export it (from the Certificates Snap-in) as .PFX, including the private key, setting a password, etc.. You might need this in order to install in into Windows Azure.