Certificate Enrollment Web Service (CES) request fails with error code "WS_E_INVALID_ENDPOINT_URL".

Assume the following scenario:

  • You try to request a certificate via a Certificate Enrollment Web Service (CEP) from an Active Directory-integrated certification authority (Enterprise Certification Authority).
  • The operation fails with the following error message:
Certificate Request Processor: The endpoint address URL is invalid. 0x803d0020 (-2143485920 WS_E_INVALID_ENDPOINT_URL)

The Certificate Enrollment Web Services (Certificate Enrollment Policy Web Service, CEP, and Certificate Enrollment Web Service, CES) enable the automatic request and renewal of certificates from a certification authority via a Web-based interface. This eliminates the need to contact the certification authority directly via Remote Procedure Call (RPC). For a more detailed description, see the article "Certificate request basics via Certificate Enrollment Web Services (CEP, CES)„.

Possible causes

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Possible causes can be:

  • An invalid address was entered for the connection to the CES.
  • The connection was invoked without Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is mandatory for CES.
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