Let's Encrypt: Remove certificate with certbot on Linux servers

Removing Let's Encrypt certificates no longer needed from certbot

Written by Tomas Lyngen

Published: 10 Dec 2022

Let's Encrypt have enabled all website owners to run their website more secure, by offering free certificates and certbot is their tool to easy add, manage and remove certificates

Check installed certs

Logon the server, where you have the certificate installed and run below snippet

sudo certbot certificates

This will list all certificates you have on your server

Found the following certs: Certificate Name: bonty.net Serial Number: 4509645************ Key Type: RSA Domains: www.bonty.net bonty.net Expiry Date: 2023-03-03 16:13:42+00:00 (VALID: 89 days) Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/bonty.net/fullchain.pem Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/bonty.net/privkey.pem Certificate Name: collectorshub.net Serial Number: 3a12************ Key Type: RSA Domains: www.collectorshub.net collectorshub.net Expiry Date: 2022-12-02 01:12:25+00:00 (INVALID: EXPIRED) Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/collectorshub.net/fullchain.pem Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/collectorshub.net/privkey.pem Certificate Name: worksheet.bonty.net Serial Number: 462c0c************ Key Type: RSA Domains: worksheet.bonty.net Expiry Date: 2022-12-11 01:10:05+00:00 (VALID: 7 days) Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/worksheet.bonty.net/fullchain.pem Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/worksheet.bonty.net/privkey.pem

It will also list when it expires and folder path to the certificates

Removing certificates

Certbot allows you to remove certificates, using below command

sudo certbot delete

After command is run, you'll be asked what certificate to remove. Just enter the number of the certificate you want removed and press enter

Which certificate(s) would you like to delete? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1: bonty.net 2: collectorshub.net 3: worksheet.bonty.net - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Select the appropriate numbers separated by commas and/or spaces, or leave input blank to select all options shown (Enter 'c' to cancel):

After you have enter number of the certificate you want to remove, you'll be asked to confirm your decision

The following certificate(s) are selected for deletion:

* collectorshub.net

Are you sure you want to delete the above certificate(s)? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (Y)es/(N)o:

After you confirm, certbot will confirm that files have been removed

Deleted all files relating to certificate collectorshub.net.

My cert is not listed

If you already know what cert you want to remove and it for some reason doesn't get listed, it's also possible to directly specify the certificate you want to remove

sudo certbot delete --cert-name example.com

Just replace example.com with your actual domain and certbot will try to remove the certificate