Installing SSL on WSL2 Apache

instructions.txt

# The idea is, we don't install certificates on WSL, instead we install them on
# Windows and point the path at WSL Apache/Ngnix configuration file.
# We use mkcert to generate certificates.
# https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert

# Install mkcert on Linux. Even though we don't generate certificate here,
# I am installing this only to check the constant is properly set or not.
# If you're Linux Ninja like my friend Bombay, you could do it without
# This package for sure.

# On WSL2 as root

wget https://github.com/FiloSottile/mkcert/releases/download/v1.4.2/mkcert-v1.4.2-linux-amd64
mv mkcert-v1.4.2-linux-amd64 mkcert
chmod +x mkcert
cp mkcert /usr/local/bin/

# On Windows
# Install Chocolatey on Windows: https://chocolatey.org/install
# Open a PowerShell windows with administrator rights and run choco install mkcert

mkcert -install
setx CAROOT "$(mkcert -CAROOT)"; If ($Env:WSLENV -notlike "*CAROOT*") { setx WSLENV "CAROOT/up:$Env:WSLENV" }

# This will set the CAROOT environment variable on the WSL2 side to point to the Windows CAROOT, 
# so your Windows browser can trust sites running in WSL2.

# Back on WSL2, you can verify the constant by typing:

mkcert -CAROOT

# You will see a result something like this:

`/mnt/c/Users/Jithesh/AppData/Local/mkcert`

# On Windows type

mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1 0.0.0.0

# So, now the certificates will be in the CAROOT directory.
# Simply update the apache2 config and point certificate files:
# Type vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.conf

SSLCertificateFile      /mnt/c/Users/Jithesh/AppData/Local/mkcert/localhost+3.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile   /mnt/c/Users/Jithesh/AppData/Local/mkcert/localhost+3-key.pem

# Enable SSL if you've not

a2enmod ssl
a2ensite default-ssl.conf

# Restart Apache

service apache2 reload
service apache2 restart

Thank you for your help.

I followed this guide, however, I am stuck here:

I installed mkcert on windows, and ran the following,
setx CAROOT "$(mkcert -CAROOT)"; If ($Env:WSLENV -notlike "*CAROOT*") { setx WSLENV "CAROOT/up:$Env:WSLENV" }
however,
When I type in the following in WSL Ubuntu,
mkcert -CAROOT
I get the following output
/root/.local/share/mkcert

What am I doing wrong?

When I run

setx CAROOT "$(mkcert -CAROOT)"; If ($Env:WSLENV -notlike "*CAROOT*") { setx WSLENV "CAROOT/up:$Env:WSLENV" }

I get the following error every time

ERROR: Invalid syntax.
Type "SETX /?" for usage.

@ShawnCrigger-SOLS are you on powershell? Please try it on Powershell

@howarddavis Try the same command without any if condition. Like:

setx WSLENV "CAROOT/up:$Env:WSLENV"

For me everything seemed OK, but https://localhost in Chrome 131.0 shows this:

localhost

This site can’t be reached
The webpage at https://localhost/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
ERR_SSL_KEY_USAGE_INCOMPATIBLE

Any ideas please?

It seems I'm having this trouble because, although after I do mkcert localhost on windows, it says the certificate is at ./localhost.pem and the key is at ./localhost-key.pem, actually there are no files except for rootCA.pem and rootCA-key.pem in this folder.