diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 347e308eb0..95d8e6d2ae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -140,13 +140,6 @@ jobs:
         if: runner.os == 'Windows'
         run: vcpkg install pcre sqlite3
 
-      - name: Download CA certificates (Windows)
-        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
-        run: |
-          $binPath = Join-Path $PWD "vcpkg" "installed" "x64-mingw-dynamic-release" "bin"
-          Invoke-WebRequest https://curl.se/ca/cacert.pem -OutFile (Join-Path $binPath "cacert.pem")
-        shell: pwsh
-
       - name: Set Xcode version (macOS M1)
         if: runner.os == 'macOS' && runner.arch == 'ARM64'
         uses: maxim-lobanov/setup-xcode@v1
diff --git a/lib/pure/net.nim b/lib/pure/net.nim
index 13ac4b796e..da22913e8d 100644
--- a/lib/pure/net.nim
+++ b/lib/pure/net.nim
@@ -29,11 +29,15 @@
 ## ==============
 ##
 ## On Windows the SSL library checks for valid certificates.
-## It uses the `cacert.pem` file for this purpose which was extracted
-## from `https://curl.se/ca/cacert.pem`. Besides
-## the OpenSSL DLLs (e.g. libssl-1_1-x64.dll, libcrypto-1_1-x64.dll) you
-## also need to ship `cacert.pem` with your `.exe` file.
 ##
+## It uses a Certificate Authority (CA) bundle and/or the Windows Root
+## Certificate store (only with OpenSSL >= 3.2.0) for this purpose.
+##
+## The CA bundle should be named `cacert.pem` and placed next to the
+## program `.exe` or in `PATH` and can be obtained from
+## `https://curl.se/ca/cacert.pem`. This bundle will be loaded
+## regardless of whether the Windows Certificate Root store is used,
+## but is only required when the Root Certificate store can not be used.
 ##
 ## Examples
 ## ========
@@ -668,7 +672,18 @@ when defineSsl:
         else:
           # Scan for certs in known locations. For CVerifyPeerUseEnvVars also scan
           # the SSL_CERT_FILE and SSL_CERT_DIR env vars
-          var found = false
+          var found =
+            when not defined(windows) or defined(openssl111):
+              false
+            else:
+              # Try loading the root certificate store on Windows.
+              #
+              # Note that we will still load cacert.pem after this, just that
+              # it won't be considered an error if we couldn't. This is because
+              # OpenSSL won't raise an error here if the store doesn't exist.
+              OpenSSL_version_num() >= 0x30200000 and
+              newCTX.SSL_CTX_load_verify_store("org.openssl.winstore:") == VerifySuccess
+
           let useEnvVars = (if verifyMode == CVerifyPeerUseEnvVars: true else: false)
           for fn in scanSSLCertificates(useEnvVars = useEnvVars):
             if newCTX.SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations(fn, nil) == VerifySuccess:
diff --git a/lib/pure/ssl_certs.nim b/lib/pure/ssl_certs.nim
index f24b3b2f91..c812d49c8b 100644
--- a/lib/pure/ssl_certs.nim
+++ b/lib/pure/ssl_certs.nim
@@ -140,27 +140,3 @@ iterator scanSSLCertificates*(useEnvVars = false): string =
         defer: free(paths)
         for i in 0 ..< size:
           yield $paths[i]
-
-# Certificates management on windows
-# when defined(windows) or defined(nimdoc):
-#
-#   import std/openssl
-#
-#   type
-#     PCCertContext {.final, pure.} = pointer
-#     X509 {.final, pure.} = pointer
-#     CertStore {.final, pure.} = pointer
-#
-#   # OpenSSL cert store
-#
-#   {.push stdcall, dynlib: "kernel32", importc.}
-#
-#   proc CertOpenSystemStore*(hprov: pointer=nil, szSubsystemProtocol: cstring): CertStore
-#
-#   proc CertEnumCertificatesInStore*(hCertStore: CertStore, pPrevCertContext: PCCertContext): pointer
-#
-#   proc CertFreeCertificateContext*(pContext: PCCertContext): bool
-#
-#   proc CertCloseStore*(hCertStore:CertStore, flags:cint): bool
-#
-#   {.pop.}
diff --git a/lib/wrappers/openssl.nim b/lib/wrappers/openssl.nim
index ff68d3d3ce..19faa48c62 100644
--- a/lib/wrappers/openssl.nim
+++ b/lib/wrappers/openssl.nim
@@ -245,6 +245,8 @@ const
 when compileOption("dynlibOverride", "ssl") or defined(noOpenSSLHacks):
   when not defined(openssl111):
     proc SSL_get_peer_certificate*(ssl: SslCtx): PX509 {.cdecl, dynlib: DLLSSLName, importc: "SSL_get1_peer_certificate".}
+
+    proc SSL_CTX_load_verify_store*(ssl: SslCtx, CAstore: cstring): cint {.cdecl, dynlib: DLLSSLName, importc.}
   else:
     proc SSL_get_peer_certificate*(ssl: SslCtx): PX509 {.cdecl, dynlib: DLLSSLName, importc: "SSL_get_peer_certificate".}
 else:
@@ -290,6 +292,13 @@ else:
         )
         if not thisProc.isNil: result = thisProc(ssl)
 
+    proc SSL_CTX_load_verify_store*(ssl: SslCtx, CAstore: cstring): cint {.gcsafe, tags: [].} =
+      {.cast(tags: []), cast(gcsafe).}:
+        var thisProc {.global.}: proc (ssl: SslCtx, CAstore: cstring): cint {.cdecl.}
+        if thisProc.isNil:
+          thisProc = cast[typeof(thisProc)](sslSymThrows("SSL_CTX_load_verify_store"))
+        result = thisProc(ssl, CAstore)
+
 proc TLS_method*(): PSSL_METHOD {.cdecl, dynlib: DLLSSLName, importc.}
 proc OpenSSL_version_num*(): culong {.cdecl, dynlib: DLLUtilName, importc.}