How to read checksums for downloaded files

Make it easier to read checksums for downloaded files, download Hash Tool from the Windows Store.
Or use command line tools, I tell you how below.
I have not downloaded many files lately, but when I do from a non-Microsoft site, other than, say Google,
or mozilla, or Adobe, you get the idea, main web portals. Then I usually do not check the checksums to
verify the file I downloaded agrees with what was downloaded.

If you are not familiar with checksums, it as an encrypted way of verifying a downloaded file, has the same long, encrypted characters as the original.

Checksums are generally MD5, which are less secure at 128 bit encryption, or
Sha-1, which are more secure at 256 bit encryption.

I download a version of Linux at times, or today, Haiku, based from BeOS.
I wanted to verify the checksum, so I duckducked it or googled it.
It was not as simple as you would think.
Microsoft has a checksum tool for MD5 checksums. It is not a program you can just download and run.
Microsoft states to put the path in your Windows path statement in order to use the tool.
I can do that, but why?
Not just anyone can do it, and it takes time, yes, why should it?
Microsoft could simply make a small program that is built into Windows that you can use in the GUI.
The GUI, for those who do not know, is a program that has a shortcut in the start menu, and you can just
click to run it.


You can download their tool, then put the path to wherever you save it in your path variable, then run the commands from an elevated Command prompt.
It is a usable solution for the technically experienced and inclied, but to others, not so much.
It is not handy to anyone!
NOTE: I entered Microsoft's website to download the tool below, if you choose to do so for whatever reason.

Built-in CertUtil

There is a built in command in Windows that you can use to read 256 Sha-1 checksums.

To run the easier built-in command, open a command prompt as administrator, by typing the word command
in the Windows Search box by the Start menu, when you see the command program listed, right click it and
choose, run as administrator, from the drop-down list. You will be prompted by Windows with the

question, Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?. Click on Yes, in order to open the command prompt as administrator.

In order to use the command that is built into Windows 10, which makes me wonder why Microsoft has a download version available, run the following in a command prompt as administrator, also known as an elevated command prompt.

To check an MD5 file run the following command:


CertUtil -hashfile filename MD5

To use a Sha-1 or SHA256 check, enter the following command:

CertUtil -hashfile filename SHA256

NOTE: In both of the commands above, you would put in the actual filename of the file that you are checking.

One more thing to mention, in order to run the commands, you will want to run them from the folder that the downloaded file is in.

In Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, that would normally be in:
C:\users\username\downloads
The username would be the actual username of your Windows account.

Should you want to download the Microsoft File Verifier Integrity Checker (FVIC), you can download it
here

I hope this helps someone.
Let me say one more thing, as with many computer related topics, an encrypted hash and a checksum are
two different things. With this post, I am wanting to relay how to check the checksum, in order to make
sure the file you downloaded is the file that the author, or file repository intended.

Since writing this article, I found a hash file checker named Hash Tool.
You can look it up on Google, or DuckDuckgo dot com or you can download it from The Microsoft Store.
You can run command line tool, but if you download quite a few program from the Internet, it may
serve you well to install the small tool.
I verified it works quite well. You can select from several encryption options MD5 and SHA256 to name two. Thanks for checking in with The Virusfighter's blog.