MD5 is a utility that lets you create and compare MD5 checksums. It can compare files as well as a file with a checksum-string. Or you can simply let the application calculate a checksum. MD5 is extremely easy to use. Raymond Lin's MD5 & SHA-1 Checksum Utility is a standalone freeware tool that generates and verifies cryptographic hashes in MD5 and SHA-1. Cryptographic hash functions are commonly used to guard.
In order to ensure the integrity of the files that you download to your computer, some websites give you a checksum of the file that you download to your computer. What you need to do is to compare the checksum given on the website with the local checksum that you generate on your computer. If both match, your file was downloaded without any issues, and it is the exact file that the website sent to your computer and not a modified one.
While the website that serves you with the checksum may have their own tools to generate checksums, what would you as a general user do to check the checksum of a file on your machine? While we have already covered checking the checksum on Linux and Windows, here is a method for the users who use an Apple Mac.
Mac users can use the built-in Terminal app to check a file’s checksum which means no third-party app download is required. Once it shows you the checksum for your file, you can then go ahead and compare it with the one that the source website has given you to find out if it was modified or corrupted in the process.
Here’s how it works:
Checking a File’s Checksum
Ensure that you have downloaded a file to your Mac for which you would like to see the checksum.
In the below example I have downloaded the WinMD5 Free tool and would like to check the checksum to see if it matches with the one given on its website.
1. Click on Launchpad in your dock, search for and click on Terminal, and it will launch for you.
2. When Terminal launches, type in the following command:
Then press Space on your keyboard, type the full path to the file and press Enter. You can also drag and drop the file into the Terminal window, and the full path will automatically appear.
The resulting command should look like the following:
3. As soon as you press Enter, Terminal should compute the checksum for the given file and show it in its window. The highlighted text string that you see in the following screenshot is the checksum for your file.
4. Now, compare the computed local checksum with the one given on the website. If both are the same, your file has not been modified, and it is exactly the same file.
This way you can compute checksums for as many files as you download to your computer in order to ensure that no interruptions have been made while you were downloading the files to your computer.
Conclusion
If you are concerned about the integrity of important files that you have downloaded to your Mac, you can use the above method to find out if they are the exact and unmodified files that were sent to you.
If you’ve just downloaded a file from the Internet, you may want to verify that the downloaded file hasn’t been tampered with. After all, who knows that kind of nefarious fiddling a hacker might have been up to? By checking the MD5, SHA-1 or SHA-256 checksum of a file, you can verify its integrity and ensure the file hasn’t been corrupted or changed.
What’s a Checksum?
A checksum is a short, unique string that results from running an encryption algorithm on a given file. The algorithm looks at all the bits that make up a file and, based on those unique bits, creates a checksum. This checksum will change if even a single bit in the file changes. This means that by comparing two checksums, you can make sure your file hasn’t been damaged or modified. It’s a useful way to defend against file corruption or malicious interference in your downloads.
The most commonly used algorithms for checksums in MD5. SHA-1 and SHA-256 are also available and are based on cryptographically-secure algorithms. If you can choose from among the three, use SHA-256.
How Do You Use a Checksum?
To use a checksum, you’ll first need to know what a given file’s checksum is. This will have to be provided to you by the same source that provided the file. You’ll run your downloaded file through the same checksum algorithm using one of the tools below. Once you’ve done that, you’ll compare the two strings. If the strings match, the file hasn’t changed. If the strings don’t match, something about your file is different from the original file.
Verify MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 Checksums in Windows 10
The best way to run checksums in Windows 10 is with a tool called MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility. It will calculate the MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 checksums for a given file simultaneously and allow you to compare your result against the provided data.
1. Download MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility from the developer’s website.
2. Double-click the downloaded file to launch the program.
3. Click the “Browse” button to select the file you want to check.
4. Locate the provided checksum for your downloaded file. Not all downloaded files have checksums available, but open-source or security-conscious developers will frequently provide a checksum. Copy that checksum to the clipboard, then click the “Paste” button in MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility.
5. If the checksum is the same as the checksum the application calculated, you’ll receive a success message. This means that the file you have is identical to the file that was previously checked.
If the checksum is different, you’ll get an error message. This means the file has somehow changed since the last checksum was calculated.
Verifying Checksums Within File Explorer
Md5 Checksum Utility
If you verify checksums frequently, you might be interested in HashTab. The application installs an additional tab in the Properties window of File Explorer. Thanks to being embedded in Explorer, Hashtab can calculate checksums in place without requiring a separate application. By default, it calculates CRC32, MD5 and SHA-1 hash values. Additional hashing algorithms can be enabled in Hashtab’s settings.
1. Download and install HashTab from the developer’s website.
2. Right-click on the file you want to run a checksum against and choose “Properties” from the context menu.
3. Click the tab labelled “File Hashes” at the top of the window to see the MD5, SHA-1 and CRC32 hashes for the file you selected.
4. Copy and paste the checksum you want to compare against in the “Hash Comparison” dialog box.
5. If the hash checks out, you’ll see a green checkmark.
If the hash doesn’t match, you’ll see a red X.
Conclusion
If you want to check the integrity of a file you’ve downloaded, checksums will help you get it done. You can use MD5 & SHA Checksum Utility as a standalone application for calculating and comparing MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 checksums or use HashTab for a checksum checking tool that’s integrated into File Explorer.
Md5 Checksum Tool Windows 7
Image credit: Beyer Cryptographic Watch via Wikimedia Commons
Check Md5 Mac
The Complete Windows 10 Customization Guide
In this ebook we’ll be exploring the multitude of options to fully customize Windows 10. By the end of this ebook you’ll know how to make Windows 10 your own and become an expert Windows 10 user.