I am looking for a way to compute crc checksum cross platform.

cksum works on Linux, AIX, HP-UX Itanium, Solaris, is there a equivalent command of linux cksum in windows too?

Note: no third party tool

Since SHA1 became insecure and everyone around the web is forcing the change to higher security standards such as SHA256, SHA384 or SHA512 Windows Administrators should also update their internal Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services  to force higher cryptographic provider. May 14, 2017  Hello! I need to use this command-line program to get the MD5 hash over a given file in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2, but when I try it this command: certutil -hashfile file.txt md5 I get this error: Expected no more than 1 args, received 2 CertUtil: Too many arguments If I repeat the. Hi, It seems that the certutil on Windows server 2003.

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6 Answers

In Windows (command prompt) you can use CertUtil, here is the syntax:

for syntax explanation type in cmd:

example:

default is SHA1 it supports: MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512. Unfortunately no CRC32 as Unix shell does.

Here is a link if you want to find out more https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732443.aspx#BKMK_menu

CassianCassian

It looks as if there is an unsupported tool for checksums from MS. It's light on features but appears to do what you're asking for. It was published in August of 2012. It's called 'Microsoft File Checksum Integrity Verifier'.

To avoid annoying non-checksum lines : CertUtil -v -hashfile 'your_file' SHA1 | FIND /V 'CertUtil'This will display only line(s) NOT contaning CertUtil

Here is a C# implementation of the *nix cksum command line utility for windows https://cksum.codeplex.com/

sstsst

In combination of answers of @Cassian and @Hllitec and from https://stackoverflow.com/a/42706309/1001717 here my solution, where I put (only!) the checksum value into a variable for further processing:

To test the output you can add a piped echo command with the var:

A bit off-topic, but FYI: I used this before uploading my NuGet package to Artifactory. BTW. as alternative you can use JFrog CLI, where checksum is calculated automatically.

ChrisChris

In the year 2019, Microsoft offers the following solution for Windows 10. This solution works for SHA256 checksum.

Press the Windows key. Type PowerShell. Select Windows Powershell. Press Enter key. Paste the command

Get-FileHash C:UsersDonaldDownloadsFile-to-be-checked-by-sha256.exe | Format-List

Replace File-to-be-checked-by-sha256.exeby the name of your file to be checked.

Replace the path to your path where the file is.Press Enter key.Powershell shows then the following

Algorithm : SHA256Hash : 123456789ABCDEFGH1234567890...Path : C:UsersDonaldDownloadsFile-to-be-checked-by-sha256.exe

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windowslinuxsolarischecksum or ask your own question.

Hashing means taking an input string of any length and giving out an output of a fixed length. Using the cryptographic hashing algorithm — e.g., MD5, SHA-256, SHA-384, you can verify if two files are identical or not. The checksum is a hash value used for performing data integrity checks on files. It’s a kind of signature for a file.

When you download large files from the internet such as the Windows 10 ISO images, there are chances that the file gets corrupt or a few bits lost due to inconsistent connection or other factors. Hash verification is the best way to compare the two hashes – source file on a website or server versus the downloaded copy.

Many software vendors put up the hash for file downloads on their site. You might have seen in torrent sites that a hash value usually accompanies the download link.

Also, the hash checksum comparison is an excellent way to identify duplicate files in a computer or compare two folders.

In this article, let’s see how to get the cryptographic hash using MD5, SHA-256, SHA-384 algorithms using various methods, and how to integrate the functionality into the context menu.

How to Get File Hash (Checksum) via the Right-click Menu in Windows

Using PowerShell

Using Windows PowerShell (powershell.exe), you can quickly get the file hash with a single command-line. Here is the command-line syntax:

This outputs the file hash (by default, it uses the SHA256 algorithm) as shown below:

To use any other algorithm — e.g., SHA384, you can add the -Algorithm SHA384 parameter to the above command-line.

Example:

The acceptable values for the -Algorithm parameter are:

• SHA1
• SHA256
• SHA384
• SHA512
• MD5

Copy to the clipboard

To copy the output to the clipboard, pipe the output to the clip command, as below:

Integrate the command to the right-click menu

To add the PowerShell command to the right-click menu for files, here is a .reg file:

• Copy the above lines to Notepad and make a .reg file. For more information, see the article How to create and use .reg files.
• Double-click the .reg file to apply the contents to the registry.
• Now, right-click on a file and click Get File Hash command in the context menu.
  

The command launches PowerShell, which in turn generates the file hash and copies it to the clipboard automatically.

To remove the context menu option you added, use this undo .reg file

Using Certutil.exe with VBScript

Certutil.exe is a built-in command-line program that is installed as part of Certificate Services. You can use Certutil.exe to compute file checksum using various hashing algorithms. The following command-line syntax is to be used to calculate the SHA256 checksum of a file using Certutil.exe from a Command Prompt window.

If you want to implement Certutil.exe in your right-click menu, here is a VBScript that exactly does it.

1. Copy the following VBScript code to Notepad.
2. Save the file with .vbs extension – e.g., get-hash-certutil.vbs in a permanent folder.
3. Double-click the file to run it.
4. In the input box that appears, type ADD and click OK.

It adds the Get File Hash command in the context menu.

Clicking on the menu item computes the SHA256 hash and copies it to the Clipboard automatically.

Open Notepad and paste the file hash stored in the clipboard.

Note: To remove the context menu entry, double-click the file to run it. Then, type REMOVE and click OK.

The above script uses the built-in certutil.exe to generate file hash, by running the command and redirecting its output to the clipboard using Clip.exe:

This is how the output will look like when running it from Command Prompt.

Certutil.exe supports the MD2MD4MD5SHA1SHA256SHA384SHA512 hashing algorithms.

Another way to get the file hash via context menu is by using a third-party utility like HashMyFiles.

HashMyFiles utility from NirSoft

HashMyFiles is small utility from Nirsoft that allows you to calculate the MD5 and SHA1 hashes of one or more files in your system. You can easily copy the MD5/SHA1 hashes list into the clipboard, or save them into text/HTML/XML file. HashMyFiles can also be launched from the context menu of Windows Explorer, and display the MD5, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512 hashes of the selected file or folder.

From the Options menu, click Enable Explorer Context Menu option to enable it. It adds the HashMyFiles option to the context menu for files and folders.

Download HashMyFiles from Nirsoft.net

Using 7-Zip

The popular compression utility 7-Zip has a feature that can compute the CRC or SHA checksums via the right-click menu. 7-Zip is a widely used software and it’s most likely that you may have installed it on your computer.

Windows 10 Sha256 Checker

In 7-Zip setup doesn’t enable the option already, you can turn it on by clicking the Tools menu, clicking Options and enabling the CRC SHA > option under the Context menu items: listing. Click OK to save your setting.

Then, all you need to do is right-click on a file, click CRC SHA and then select a hashing algorithm such as CRC-32, CRC-64, SHA-1, SHA-256 from the sub-menu. To select all of the above hashing algorithms (and BLAKE2 algorithm in addition), click the asterisk (*) option.

The checksum information is presented in a separate dialog.

You can select the items and press Ctrl + C on your keyboard to copy it to the clipboard.

Using HashTools from Binary Fortress

HashTools by Binary Fortress Software computes and checks hashes with just one click! Supports CRC32, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512 and SFV’s, as well as integration into the Windows Explorer context menu for one-click access.

Install HashTools or run the portable edition or the tool. Click on the Options button shown with the gears icon, and click Add to Windows Context Menus.

Right-click on a file or a set of files, and click Hash with HashTools in the context menu.

This launches the HashTools program and adds the selected file(s) to the list. Next, click on a hashing algorithm (e.g., CRC, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, etc) to generate the hash checksum for the files.

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About the author

Certutil Hashfile Sha256

Ramesh Srinivasan founded Winhelponline.com back in 2005. He is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 10 consecutive years from 2003 to 2012.