As the error message says, you are getting this because the private key file (privkey.pem) does not exist (No such file).
If you want to use this form of the command you must first generate the private key file. If you want to do it all at once then a slightly different form of the command is required (I will assume you want an RSA key - changes are required for DSA or ECC): openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privkey.pem -out cacert.pem -x509 -new -days 1095 This will result in something that looks like this: Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key ............................+++ ..................+++ writing new private key to 'privkey.pem' Enter PEM pass phrase: Verifying - Enter PEM pass phrase: ----- You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated into your certificate request. What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN. There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank For some fields there will be a default value, If you enter '.', the field will be left blank. ----- Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]: State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]: Locality Name (eg, city) []: Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]: Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []: Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []: Email Address []: Regards Bill -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Daniela Gutierrez Sent: June 12, 2008 6:13 PM To: openssl-users@openssl.org Subject: unable to load Private Key Hi there, I'm trying to create a self-signed certificate but I'm having some troubles, the error I keep getting is: mymachine# openssl req -new -x509 -key privkey.pem -out cacert.pem -days 1095 Error opening Private Key privkey.pem 19996:error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory:bss_file.c:352:fopen('privkey.pem','r') 19996:error:20074002:BIO routines:FILE_CTRL:system lib:bss_file.c:354: unable to load Private Key I'm kinda new with this certificates and openssl thing but I've never had this error before, I hope someone could help me Thanks (sorry for my poor english) -- Daniela ______________________________________________________________________ OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org User Support Mailing List openssl-users@openssl.org Automated List Manager [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org User Support Mailing List openssl-users@openssl.org Automated List Manager [EMAIL PROTECTED]