File Checksum Integrity Verifier is a free command line program by Microsoft that can be used to create and verify md5 checksums of files in a specific folder. The program can for instance be used to check if files in a specific directory have been modified which is often the case if malicious software has been executed on the computer system. This is done by calculating hashes of every file – or only specific file types – in the selected directory with the option to compare those generated the first time with hashes that have been generated at a later time.
Identical hashes mean no file manipulation while nonidentical hashes suggest file manipulations. The File Checksum Integrity Verifier can be downloaded from the Microsoft homepage. The Microsoft Support page that lists the file download contains an explanation of the program’s command line parameters.
The program needs to be unpacked after download. It is suggested to move the file fciv.exe into a system folder like the Windows folder so that it can be run without specifying a path.
MD5 hashes of a specific directory can be created with the following command:
fciv folder -r -xml output.xml
fciv c:\windows\ -r -xml c:\md5\20100117md5.xml
It is possible to specify file extensions with the -type parameter followed by the filetype, e.g. *.exe.
A previously created xml document containing hashes can be verified with the following command
fciv -v -xml output.xml
fciv -v -xml c:\md5\20100117md5.xml
The tool will display a list of modified files at the end of the comparison. It is possible to switch to use -sha instead of -md5. Users who want to verify the files regularly might want to consider creating a batch file for the file verification checks.
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The File Checksum Integrity Verifier is a good file, an excellent check. Unfortunately, per Microsoft, it is useful only on Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.
worked fine on a Windows 7 test system.
Hashtab (http://beeblebrox.org/)
Integrated in Windows Explorer ;-) but only on single files
Be careful:
1) Product is unsupported.
2) Developing seems to be stopped.
3) Exclusions list (-exc parameter) doesn’t work at all.
I’ve found better solution – FCIV for PowerShell:
http://www.sysadmins.lv/content/scripts/PSFCIV_1.0.ps1
Didn’t know about this utility, thank you :)
In the past, I’ve used “ICE ECC” to verify integrity of files. It’s a program to create recovery data to repair damaged files, but it can be used to just check files for integrity (you can create recovery files that don’t contain recovery data; just integrity check): http://www.ice-graphics.com/
Wow, I was just thinking about how I needed program something like this. Perhaps I don’t have to now. Thanks!