File extension P12
| File type | PFX File (Personal Information Exchange) |
| Developer | RSA Laboratories |
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What is a P12 file?
Files with the .P12 extension contain a digital certificate encrypted in accordance with the Public Key Cryptography Standard #12, or PKCS#12 for short. P12 files are usually used as a portable format for transferring public keys or moving other sensitive data. The files are used by various programs for creating safeguards and encryption.
P12 files contain private keys that can be used for encrypting data, which can then be decrypted only using said data’s public key. Similarly, data encrypted using a public key can be decrypted only using a respective private key. This allows for verification of the data transmission source.
Program(s) that can open the .P12 file
How to open P12 files
If you cannot open the P12 file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports P12 among those that are installed on your device.
A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the P12 file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.
Possible problems with the P12 format files
The inability to open and operate the P12 file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the PFX File (Personal Information Exchange) file. Below is a list of possible problems.
- Corruption of a P12 file which is being opened
- Incorrect links to the P12 file in registry entries.
- Accidental deletion of the description of the P12 from the Windows registry
- Incomplete installation of an application that supports the P12 format
- The P12 file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
- The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the P12 file.
- Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a P12 file are out of date.
If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the P12 file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the P12 file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the P12 file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.
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How to associate the file with an installed software?
If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.P12) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected P12 file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the P12 file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.
Is there one way to open unknown files?
Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. P12) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.