openSSL on Windows - random lack of state

I saw this exception: -

unable to write 'random state'

whilst trying to use openSSL on Windows.

I was trying to convert a CA-signed personal certificate ( and the corresponding private key ) into a PKCS12 file, in order to import the same into Firefox.

Thankfully Google drew me to this: -

Using openssl what does "unable to write 'random state'" mean? [closed]

which led me to a solution.

I was running the openSSL tool via a Windows command-prompt ( terminal ) session but was NOT running it as an administrative user.

Once I clicked [Start] [Run], entered cmd.exe and chose "Run as Administrator", it just worked.

I need to write up the end-to-end process for a future blog post …