Windows stores a certificate locally on the computer or device that requested it or, in the case of a user, on the computer or device that the user used to request it. The storage location is called the certificate store. A certificate store often has numerous certificates, possibly issued from a number of different certification authorities.

You can view certificates based on their purpose (such as Client Authentication and Code Signing) or based on logical roles (such as Personal, Trusted Publishers, and Trusted Root Certification Authorities).

In addition, you can also use certificate store options to view archived certificates and the certificate stores storage structure.

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