OpenSSL-Win-Build

Windows build recipe for OpenSSL from source.

Tracks upstream openssl/openssl as a git submodule pinned to a release tag. Scripts default to the conventional Windows install layout (C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64 + C:\Program Files\Common Files\SSL).

Downloads

Pre-built 64-bit Windows binaries are attached to each GitHub Release:

• OpenSSL-Win64-<version>-setup.exe — installer. Installs to C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64, creates an Add/Remove Programs entry, optional "Add to PATH" task. Requires admin (UAC).
• OpenSSL-Win64-<version>.zip — the same install tree as a ZIP. Extract to C:\ to land the contents at C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64\ and C:\Program Files\Common Files\SSL\ (the binaries have those paths baked in, so other extraction points won't work).

To build from source yourself, read on.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (Community or Build Tools) with the "Desktop development with C++" workload — provides cl, nmake, link.
• Strawberry Perl — add its perl\bin subdirectory to PATH.
• NASM — add the folder containing nasm.exe to PATH.
• Git.

All scripts must be run from a shell that has the MSVC toolchain active. Easiest: launch "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022" from the Start menu, then start PowerShell in it:

pwsh

Clone

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/weaverant/OpenSSL-Win-Build.git
cd OpenSSL-Win-Build

If you forgot --recurse-submodules:

git submodule update --init

Build

Default layout:

.\build.ps1

Custom install location, single self-contained tree:

.\build.ps1 -InstallPrefix C:\OpenSSL-Local -OpenSSLDir C:\OpenSSL-Local\ssl

Skip the test suite (roughly 10 minutes on a modern box):

.\build.ps1 -SkipTests

Options:

Switch / Param	Default	Notes
-Target	VC-WIN64A	also VC-WIN32, VC-WIN64-ARM, ... (see NOTES-WINDOWS.md in the submodule)
-InstallPrefix	C:\Program Files\OpenSSL-Win64	baked into the binaries at Configure time
-OpenSSLDir	C:\Program Files\Common Files\SSL	baked into the binaries at Configure time
-SkipTests	off
-Clean	off	run nmake clean first

Install

.\install.ps1

Installs to whichever prefix the last build.ps1 used. When the target is under C:\Program Files\, run from an elevated shell — the script warns if it detects a non-admin session targeting a protected path.

To change the install location, re-run build.ps1 with a new -InstallPrefix — the prefix is baked in at Configure time, so a simple reinstall to a different location is not possible.

Updating to a newer OpenSSL release

cd openssl
git fetch --tags
git checkout openssl-X.Y.Z
cd ..
git add openssl
git commit -m "Bump openssl to X.Y.Z"
git push origin main
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push origin vX.Y.Z

Pushing the vX.Y.Z tag runs the release workflow, which builds, tests and publishes the installer and ZIP as a GitHub Release. To build locally instead, rebuild with .\build.ps1.