Adding an SSL certificate in IIS is essential for securing your website with HTTPS. Whether you're using IIS 7, IIS 8, IIS 10, or newer, the process is largely the same with only slight UI differences. This guide walks you through the steps to bind an SSL certificate to your website in any version of Internet Information Services (IIS).
IIS must be installed on your Windows Server (any version).
An SSL certificate must be installed/imported on the server.
You should have administrative access to the server.
Open IIS Manager
Press the Windows key, type inetmgr, and press Enter.
This opens Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
Select Your Website
In the Connections panel (left side), expand the Sites node.
Click the name of the website you want to secure with SSL.
Open Site Bindings
On the Actions panel (right side), click Bindings….
Add an HTTPS Binding
In the Site Bindings window, click Add….
For Type, choose https.
IP address: Use the same IP as your HTTP binding or set to All Unassigned if appropriate.
Port: Enter 443. This is the default port for HTTPS.
Hostname (optional): Use if you're configuring SNI (Server Name Indication) for multiple SSL sites on the same IP.
SSL certificate: From the dropdown, select the certificate you’ve imported.
Apply and Save
Click OK, then Close the Site Bindings dialog.
Your site is now configured to support HTTPS.
Sometimes a restart is required for changes to take full effect:
iisreset
Or use Restart from the IIS Manager toolbar.
If your SSL certificate doesn’t appear in the list:
Ensure it's installed under Local Machine > Personal > Certificates.
The certificate must include the private key.
For IIS 8 and later, you can enable SNI (Server Name Indication) during the binding step for multiple SSLs on one IP.