Checksum-Verify

Menu-driven PowerShell checksum tool (MD5/SHA1/SHA256/...) with clipboard & ISE support

NOTES

• Author: Ruben Draaisma
• Version: 1.3.1
• Tested on: Windows 11 24H2
• Tested with: PowerShell ISE, PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7

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Description

A compact, interactive PowerShell-based checksum utility that supports streaming checksum calculation (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512) with throttled progress reporting, persistent preferences, single-key menu navigation, GDPR compliance, and convenient clipboard/save actions.

The tool is designed to be used interactively (menu-driven) but also exposes functions you can call programmatically from other scripts.

Key Features

• Checksum Algorithms: Streaming calculation for large files (MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512)
• Performance: Throttled Write-Progress updates with configurable interval and minimum delta percent
• Large File Support: Int64-safe arithmetic for files over 2GB
• Single-Key Navigation: No Enter required for menu selections (works in console and PowerShell ISE)
• Dual File Selection: Choose between GUI (File Explorer) or CLI (Type/Paste/Drag-Drop) modes
• Recent Files: Quick access to your last 10 processed files
• Enhanced Progress: Real-time speed (MB/s), ETA, and progress in window title
• File Info Preview: See file size, modified date, and large file warnings before processing
• Human-Readable Sizes: Automatic formatting (TB, GB, MB, KB)
• Persistent Settings: Stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\checksum-tool\settings.json
• Clipboard Support: Auto-copy calculated checksums with Set-Clipboard or Windows Forms fallback
• File Operations: Quick-save and save-with-metadata options
• Algorithm Detection: Automatic algorithm detection when verifying checksums
• Checksum File Support: Parse various common checksum file formats
• GDPR Compliant: Privacy-first defaults with full data management controls
• Logging: Rotating logs with optional path anonymization
• PowerShell Best Practices: All approved verbs, parameter validation, comprehensive error handling

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 or newer operating system.
• PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+ recommended.
• Permission to run PowerShell scripts (you may need to set execution policy for the current user):

Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Force

• An interactive desktop session is required for clipboard fallback (System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard).

Installation

Download and run locally

1. Download the latest Checksum-Verify.ps1 from the repository's releases.
2. Right-click the file and choose Run with PowerShell, or run it from an elevated PowerShell window if needed.

Usage

Interactive (menu)

1. Run the script.
2. Use the single-key menu to select an action:
   • 1 Calculate checksum
   • 2 Verify checksum (auto-detect algorithm, supports pasted value or checksum-file)
   • 3 Verify checksum (specify algorithm, supports pasted value or checksum-file)
   • 4 Recent files (quick access to last 10 processed files)
   • 5 Preferences
   • 6 Privacy & Data Management
   • 7 Exit
3. Follow prompts and dialogs for file selection and actions.

Example: programmatic usage

You can call the core functions from PowerShell directly:

# Calculate checksum with progress
Get-FileChecksumEx -Path 'C:\path\to\file.iso' -Algorithm 'SHA256' -ShowProgress

# Verify checksum (auto-detect)
Test-FileChecksum -Path 'C:\path\to\file.iso' -ExpectedChecksum 'abcdef123...' -AutoDetectAlgorithm -ShowProgress

Settings

Settings are stored (JSON) in:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\checksum-tool\settings.json

Default keys: AutoCopyToClipboard, ProgressUpdateIntervalMs, ProgressMinDeltaPercent, UseFileDialog, LogDirectory, RecentFiles, MaxRecentFiles, IncludeUsernameInMetadata, AnonymizeLogPaths.

Example JSON:

{
    "AutoCopyToClipboard": false,
    "ProgressUpdateIntervalMs": 200,
    "ProgressMinDeltaPercent": 0.25,
    "UseFileDialog": true,
    "LogDirectory": "C:\\Users\\YourUser\\AppData\\Local\\checksum-tool",
    "RecentFiles": [],
    "MaxRecentFiles": 10,
    "IncludeUsernameInMetadata": false,
    "AnonymizeLogPaths": true
}

Privacy

This tool is GDPR compliant with privacy-first defaults:

• All data stored locally (no external transmission)
• Path anonymization in logs (enabled by default)
• Username in file metadata (disabled by default)
• Full data management via Privacy menu (view, export, delete all data)
• Transparent data storage locations

See PRIVACY.md for complete privacy policy.

Troubleshooting

• Check Logs
• PowerShell ISE: The script includes a cross-host single-key reader (Read-SingleKey) so single-key input works in ISE as well as in regular consoles. If your environment still requires pressing Enter in some hosts, the script will fall back to Read-Host as a last-resort.
• Clipboard failures: If Set-Clipboard is unavailable or fails, the script attempts a Windows Forms clipboard fallback. That fallback requires an interactive desktop session.
• Permissions / Execution Policy: If the script fails to run, ensure your execution policy allows running unsigned scripts for the current user (see prerequisites).
• Verbose output: Rerun the script enabling verbose messages to get more detail ($VerbosePreference = 'Continue' or use Write-Verbose output when debugging).