How to verify the MD5 Checksum of a file in Windows

MD5 Checksum is a way to check that the file that you downloaded from the internet or a third party (untrusted source) is complete and unaltered. It basically insures that the file is exactly the same as to what the vendor is providing. The MD5 checksum verification insures that the file is complete and is not altered or corrupted in any way possible. This article shows how to verify the MD5 checksum of a file in Windows using a freeware utility called WinMD5Sum.

  Go to the Nullriver's website and download their free WinMD5Sum software from http://www.nullriver.com/downloads/Install-winMd5Sum.exe

- Do a standard install, choose all defaults

- Download the file you want to from the internet, make a note of its MD5 sum as provided by the vendor (copy it to Notepad). In our example, we would be downloading an .iso image for a Linux Ubuntu CD from the website. Download the iso for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

- Grab the Hash (MD5Hash) for the Ubuntu image you just downloaded from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes (fa027fc04c5ff82a8c81b8ffd04d8eb5)

- Run the WinMD5Sum Program

- Click on the ellipses and browse to the file that you downloaded; this will automatically populate the MD5 hash field

- Copy and paste the Hash you got for the file you got from the vendor's site

- Click compare

- The program should tell you if the hashes match, if they do, your file is intact else it is either corrupt, incomplete of has been tempered with.