Windows Certificate Store specification

The format for specifying a certificate in the Windows Certificate Store is as follows: 

store_location\store_name\thumbprint

or

store_location\store_name\common_name

where

store_location is one of the following: CurrentUser, LocalMachine, CurrentService, Services, Users, CurrentUserGroupPolicy, LocalMachineGroupPolicy, LocalMachineEnterprise.

store_name is one of the following: My, Root, Trust, CA.

thumbprint is the 40-character certificate thumbprint.

common_name is the certificate’s common name, which you provided when the certificate was purchased or created.

The thumbprint and the common name can be obtained from the Details tab in the Windows Certificate Manager (certlm.msc for local machine certificates or certmgr.msc for user certificates). The thumbprint is unique for the certificate, but will change when it is renewed, which can be as often as every 30 days. Consequently, you may wish to use the common name instead, as long as it is unique. Thumbprint is included in the list of fields on the Details tab; to see the common name, select “Subject” from that list and look for the “CN” value (this will typically be the same as the “Issued To” value in the certificate list).

The specification can include a leading backslash.

For example,

LocalComputer\My\d7890d96a266ad39d340aa991e17a2875ccf8175

Or

\LocalComputer\Root\MyCert

More information about the store location and store name is available in System Store Locations in the Microsoft documentation.