How do I do a SHA1 File Checksum in C#?

Question

using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(@"C:\file\location", FileMode.Open))
using (BufferedStream bs = new BufferedStream(fs))
{
    using (SHA1Managed sha1 = new SHA1Managed())
    {
        byte[] hash = sha1.ComputeHash(bs);
        StringBuilder formatted = new StringBuilder(2 * hash.Length);
        foreach (byte b in hash)
        {
            formatted.AppendFormat("{0:X2}", b);
        }
    }
}

formatted contains the string representation of the SHA-1 hash. Also, by using a FileStream instead of a byte buffer, ComputeHash computes the hash in chunks, so you don't have to load the entire file in one go, which is helpful for large files.

With the ComputeHash method. See here:

ComputeHash

Example snippet:

using(var cryptoProvider = new SHA1CryptoServiceProvider())
{
    string hash = BitConverter
            .ToString(cryptoProvider.ComputeHash(buffer));

    //do something with hash
}

Where buffer is the contents of your file.

If you are already reading the file as a stream, then the following technique calculates the hash as you read it. The only caveat is that you need to consume the whole stream.

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            String sourceFileName = "C:\\test.txt";
            Byte[] shaHash;

            //Use Sha1Managed if you really want sha1
            using (var shaForStream = new SHA256Managed())
            using (Stream sourceFileStream = File.Open(sourceFileName, FileMode.Open))
            using (Stream sourceStream = new CryptoStream(sourceFileStream, shaForStream, CryptoStreamMode.Read))
            {
                //Do something with the sourceStream 
                //NOTE You need to read all the bytes, otherwise you'll get an exception ({"Hash must be finalized before the hash value is retrieved."}) 
                while(sourceStream.ReadByte() != -1);                
                shaHash = shaForStream.Hash;
            }

            Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToBase64String(shaHash));
        }
    }

Also you can try:

FileStream fop = File.OpenRead(@"C:\test.bin");
string chksum = BitConverter.ToString(System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1.Create().ComputeHash(fop));