How to Install OpenSSL on Windows

This article will demonstrate how to install OpenSSL on the Windows platform. Not all installations of Windows come with an installed version of OpenSSL. You may wish to install OpenSSL to run any number of their cryptographic commands.

For a list of available commands visit any of our articles on how to use OpenSSL.

Windows abstracts many users away from having the need to install OpenSSL, especially for certificate management functions. For SSL certificate and cryptography power users that may be accustomed to a command line interface for such tasks, OpenSSL is a useful tool that can be installed on Windows. That is probably why you are here.

If you are looking for instructions on how to install OpenSSL on Ubuntu, head over to our article here.

OpenSSL Installation Steps for Windows

1. Download the OpenSSL installer from https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html. For this example, we downloaded the Win64 OpenSSL v3.0.3 executable.
2. After the download is complete, run the file and follow the steps in the installation wizard.
3. Accept the license agreement.
4. Choose the installation location. The default location is recommended.
5. Choose the Start Menu Folder. The default location is recommended.
6. Choose the default additional tasks option.
7. Click Install.
8. Uncheck any box for donations. If you decide to donate you may also do that.
9. Click Finish.

Now that OpenSSL is installed on your Windows machine you may open it by searching for “Win64 OpenSSL Command Prompt” and clicking it. This will open your openssl command line.

To verify your installation, type the following:

openssl version

The output for this example should be:

OpenSSL 3.0.3 3 May 2022 (Library: OpenSSL 3.0.3 3 May 2022)

With a successful installation of OpenSSL on Windows you can now run any of the OpenSSL commands, documented here. Be sure to check often for updated versions.

Conclusion

This article has demonstrated how to install OpenSSL on a Windows machine. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or would like to see alternate ways of installing or using OpenSSL on Windows.