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EasyRSA Error: The input file does not appear to be a certificate request. Aborting import. - OpenVPN setup on ubuntu

Posted on April 20, 2019

I’m currently following this tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-openvpn-server-on-ubuntu-18-04

I’ve successfully made it to the part where you transfer the client1.req cert request to the CA server but I am unable to import the certificate on the CA server. I get the following error: The input file does not appear to be a certificate request. Aborting import.


user1@server-CA:~/EasyRSA-v3.0.6$ ./easyrsa import-req /tmp/client1.req client1

Note: using Easy-RSA configuration from: ./vars

Using SSL: openssl OpenSSL 1.1.0g 2 Nov 2017

Easy-RSA error:

The input file does not appear to be a certificate request. Aborting import. Offending file: /tmp/client1.req

user1@server-CA:~/EasyRSA-v3.0.6$


I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Linux in general so if more info is needed I will try to provide it. I’ve tried searching the web for hints but still haven’t been able to figure it out. Thanks in advance.



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Hi friend, I’m curious what you’re trying to accomplish via the tutorial, and wondering if it’s getting a working OpenVPN going. If so you may want to look into OpenVPN’s 1-Click App that is ready to go https://marketplace.digitalocean.com/apps/openvpn-access-server

It seem to be a premissions error. Doble chek permissions. If thay are different from 777 you may whant to try to use sudo shmod 777 <path> to set proper acsess premiossions. WARNING! This will make file unsecure. You may whant to use something like sudo shmod r--r--- <path> aftr importing request,

I had the same error, it was because I have imported my server.req file with root, thus EasyRSA did not have the permission to read it.

My Solution: sudo chown writeYourUserHere:writeYourGroupHere /pathToYourFile/server.req

(My Example): sudo chown pi:pi /tmp/server.req

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