# Where WebSphere MQ certificate stores are located

This section gives details on where you can find the WebSphere® MQ certificate stores installed on your systems.

In WebSphere MQ Version 5.3 for Windows®, certificates are held in a WebSphere MQ Certificate Store and are stored in a (store) file that has the suffix `.sto`.

The path name for each of the WebSphere MQ certificate stores can be found by looking in the following attributes and variables:

- for WebSphere MQ queue managers, this is the value of the SSLKEYR attribute
- for WebSphere MQ clients, this is the value of the MQSSLKEYR environment variable
- for applications using MQCONNX calls, this is the value of the KeyRepository field in the MQSCO structure

The store file usually contains the following:

- The certificate assigned to the queue manager or client
- The chain of certification authority certificates
- Any other certificates that were loaded by default
- Any other personal or certification authority certificates.

Parent topic: Step 1: Ensuring WebSphere MQ certificate stores contain complete certificate chains