---
title: Assign a Certificate to a Profile
canonical: https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/assign-a-certificate-to-a-profile/
product: OpenVPN Connect Docs
---

# Assign a Certificate to a Profile

OpenVPN Connect supports assigning a PKCS#12 certificate to an appropriate [Connection Profile](https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/connection-profiles.md). This guide shows you how.

## Before you begin

Ensure you have [imported a certificate](https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/import-a-certificate.md) and have an appropriate [connection profile](https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/connection-profiles.md).

> **Important**
>
> Certificate assignment is only available for profiles that don’t include embedded \<cert\> and \<key\> fields in their configuration.

## How to assign a certificate to an existing profile

1. Launch OpenVPN Connect.
2. Tap or click to open the **Menu**.
3. Tap or click **My Profiles**.
4. Find the profile and tap or click on the **Edit** icon.
   - The profile parameters display.

     > **Tip**
     >
     > If you have an active connection with this profile, the message will display, "This profile is connected." You can't edit a profile with an active connection.
5. Ensure that **Require External Certificate** is set to **ON**.
6. Tap or click **Select**.
7. Select a certificate from the list that appears and confirm the operation.
8. Tap or click **Save Changes**.

> **Note**
>
> If your connection profile doesn't include an embedded certificate and doesn't require an external one, you can turn **Require External Certificate** to **Off**. That disables certificate assignment and prevents the missing certificate dialog from appearing every time you connect.

---

Prev: [Connect and Authorize Hardware Tokens](https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/connect-and-authorize-hardware-tokens.md)
Next: [Unassign a Certificate from a Profile](https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/unassign-a-certificate-from-a-profile.md)
Index: https://openvpn.net/connect-docs/llms.txt