Member Avatar for winddancer

Hopefully , This will help eliminate alot of heart ache that I went thru learning to burn. :twisted: Many of us are downloading linux from mirrors onto a windows computer and then burning the cd to find it does not work. The download part is not always the problom ! There should be a file in the program from the mirror called MD5 or MD5 check sum. This is a varifacation key. To check this key you can use a free program called md5 checksummer Once the program is downloaded use this program to generate a md5 and it should match the one in the file from the download site of the program if it does not then it was corrupted during the download. In this case delete the program files and try again sometimes the files on the mirror are corrupted themselves . Also run a virus scan on the files. Second is the burn , Do Not pull up the file and copy to cd on windows , this will leave you a perfectly good drink coaster. Instead start your cd burning program and then select burn ISO or exact copy from disk. And then select the program ISO you downloaded also use a slower burn speed for this file to help ensure it is not corrupted during the burn. Then use the md5 program to verify the cd as you did before. This is alot of work but it will be worth it in the long run.

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Short, focused checklist that builds on the good points from , and — but tightens the security and verification steps so burned media are both uncorrupted and authentic.

MD5 will catch many accidental download errors, but it is no longer safe to rely on for authenticity (collision attacks are practical). Prefer the distro-provided SHA256/SHA512 checksums and, when available, the GPG-signed checksum file — that combination proves the image came from the distributor and was not tampered with. See the formal MD5 guidance and modern distro verification practices: RFC 6151 and the Ubuntu/Debian verification pages. (rfc-editor.org)

A compact workflow that covers Windows and Linux: download the ISO plus the checksum file and its signature (for example SHA256SUMS + SHA256SUMS.gpg), verify the signature with GPG, then verify the ISO matches the checksum. On Linux the standard tools do this; on Windows you can use the built-in PowerShell/CertUtil utilities to compute hashes (so you do not need third‑party hashers if you prefer not to). If either signature or checksum fails, do not burn — try a different mirror or the torrent/rsync option. See the distro how‑to and Windows guidance. (ubuntu.com)

Burning and post‑burn checks: always burn as an image (not copy-as-data), enable the burner’s verify/read-back option, finalize the disc, and test the ISO in a VM before burning physical media. After burning you can read the disc device and recompute the checksum to compare with the downloaded value — Ubuntu documents this verification step for installation media. If you see persistent read errors, use fresh, higher‑quality discs and a lower write speed. (help.ubuntu.com)

Quick takeaway: follow ’s burn‑image advice, use native hashing as noted, but replace MD5 with signed SHA256/SHA512 for trust. Verifying the signature of the checksum file is the crucial step that turns a checksum from “integrity check” into a trustable authenticity check.

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Member Avatar for Triangle

Speaking of ISO burning I suppose using ISO-burner tool. It is very easy to use and reliable

Member Avatar for forkart

I recommend you to use magiciso to burn iso file to dvd. It is very reliable and easy to use.

Member Avatar for jbennet

i use DeepBurner free edition (its really free, no nag screens or anything and it does data cds/dvds as well and it can also do cover art)

Member Avatar for mepnoob2005

If you guys are already using linux then you don't need any extra apps to check an md5sum. Just open a konsole or a terminal ad cd to the place where you have the iso. Then enter this into the terminal md5sum followed by the exact name of the file. thew md5 will be generated in twenty seconds or more depending on your system speed. So to check the md5sum on a dsl iso that I have , the entry would look like this
md5sum dsl-3.3RC1.iso
The md5sum will be there for you to see.

kerry@0[~]$ md5sum dsl-3.3RC1.iso
2c29694d938591d6973dd8633173d7f6 dsl-3.3RC1.iso
This only took me about 15 seconds and I don't need any extra apps to do it.
K3b can check the md5sum too. Just scroll down to where k3b is calculating the md5sum and when it is done you left click the md5sum that k3b figured. That will make a button appear at the right side of the k3b md5sum. Press the button and a box will pop up where you can paste the md5sum that you got from wherever you downloaded the file into the box and hit apply or ok I forget but it will compare the two md5sums. Also with k3b you can check a box to test the cd for errors. It will tell you that the file seems binary correct or not. ;)

Member Avatar for mepnoob2005

Oops. Sorry about the double post.

Member Avatar for manandvan

This is how you verify MD5 checksums on Windows
The Easy Way (digestIT with GUI)

digestIT is a graphical tool that should be easier to use for most Windows users.
Download digestIT.
Navigate in Windows Explorer to the directory where you saved/downloaded the OpenOffice.org archive.
Right click the OpenOffice.org archive file in and select digestIT -> Verify MD5 Hash (or Calculate MD5 Hash).
If you select "Verify MD5 Hash" then you will be able to copy and paste the MD5 from MD5Sum page (linked to on the latest download page). If the checksums match, you will see: "Digest matches. Verification succeeded."
If you select "Calculate MD5 Hash" then you will need to visually compare the calculated MD5 with the one listed on the MD5Sum page (linked to on the latest download page).

Edited by PhilliePhan because: removed spam
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