I am trying to develop a minimal *client-only* SSL/TLS app to connect to an https server. It always fails on on 'SSL\_connect(). I haven't installed any certificates.  

**Are certicates required in such a case?**  

I've found many answers on SO and elsewhere that say NO with the caveat *"unless required by the server"*.

**Details:**

* I'm using the GitHub: OpenSSL package which I built from source.
* All SSL calls prior to SSL\_connect succeed,
* On debugging, I see the error happening in function 'SSL\_do\_handshake' [returns -1].
* I'e tried several different https servers with the same result.
* I'm using MSVC 2019 on a Dell Optiplex Win10/64 machine
* Ideally, I'd like to avoid certificates to avoid having (non-tech-savvy) end-users having to muck with certificates.

**Code Synopsis:**

* Get method: TLS\_client\_method()
* Get CTX: SSL\_CTX\_new(method)
* Create socket 'sock'
* Connect sock to host on port 443
* Create SSL\*: ssl=SSL\_new(ctx)
* SSL\_set\_fd(ssl, sock)
* SSL\_connect(ssl) [always fails]