How to check the integrity of downloads (MD5SUM) in Windows

Alejandro (a.k.a KZKG^Gaara)

1 minute

 Thinking of installing a Linux distro and leaving Windows? If you downloaded an .iso or .img image, before burning it to a cd or preparing your usb, it is necessary to verify that the file you downloaded is identical to the one published on the web, for security and to avoid errors or crashes during the installation.

This post is dedicated to all those who are about to take the big step of making the transition from Win to a Linux distribution. Especially for those who are going to do their installation with images downloaded by torrent or direct download. It is important to verify that the image integrity is 100% to avoid errors during installation.

MD5Summer

This is an application of FOSS that runs on Windows and allows us to check the integrity of the images we download.

1.- We can download this utility from your page. After downloading it, we run the exe. We extract, we select the folder where we want the files to be.

2.- We execute the file md5summer, which is inside the folder we chose, we select the directory where our images are or are, we click on create sums, we add the images we want to check to the list, ok, and we wait for the job to finish.

Finally, they can compare whether the md5 hash that results in the program is the same as the one provided by the distribution you plan to install.


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  1.   Fernando said
    ago 11 years

    I also recommend HashTab, it is an application that integrates with the "Properties" box.

    To make it work you must right click on an .iso file, open "properties" and select the tab "File Hash", select MD5 and paste the MD5 Hash, to see if they match.

    You can also check other types of "hashes" such as MD4, MD2, CRC32, Adler32, RIPED-128,256,320. SHA… Tiger, Whirlpool.

    Reply to Fernando
  2.   bethold said
    ago 11 years

    Hi. But how do you compare the MD5 Hash, opening them with the notepad?
    I know that one can mount (view), the files within the ISO image, using Daemon Tools Lite.
    If that's how I think, then the md5 from the md5summer review, and from the Daemon, turned out totally different, for the Linux Mint distro I downloaded.

    Reply to Betoldo
  3.   Let's use Linux said
    ago 11 years

    Interesting! Thank you!
    Cheers! Paul.

    Respond to Let's Use Linux
  4.   Vicente said
    ago 9 years

    For Linux we can use GtkHash

    Reply to Vicente