Thanks to everyone for the info -- it's definitely helpful.
Yesterday, I had a brain fart and searched by archive of this list for
"random" and neglected "entropy". This popped up using the latter (slightly
embarrassing that it's in response to a v. similar question I'd asked not long
ago ;)..
> Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 13:13:21 -0800
> From: Wei Dai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Entropy-gathering gizmos for NT?
>
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2000 at 07:54:03AM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > I'm curious about what all entropy-gathering gizmos, a la "Entropy Gathering
> > Deamon" (EGD) <url:http://www.lothar.com/tech/crypto/>, might be available
> > for/on NT -- anyone know?
> >
> > My understanding is that such stuff is effectively built-into Win2K -- anyone
> > have comments/observations on that?
>
> It's built into Microsoft's base CryptoAPI service provider, which is
> available on Win2K and any Windows OS after Windows 95 I think. You can
> do something like this:
>
> // untested
> HCRYPTPROV hProvider = 0;
> BYTE randomBytes[128];
> CryptAcquireContext(&hProvider, 0, 0, PROV_RSA_FULL, CRYPT_VERIFYCONTEXT);
> CryptGenRandom(hProvider, sizeof(randomBytes), randomBytes);
So, is MS's CryptoAPI service provider installed by default on NT (and win2k)?
If it is, then this is likely the most expedient answer for the NT case.
In terms of Don's reply..
> nt uses capi's generate_random_seed() call,
> which mostly relies on static configuration
> data, like the host's name & ip address.
> if i remember correctly, it may hash the
> load average in, too.
I seem to recall that "capi" is nominally a different name for the same thing
that's also known as "CryptoAPI", izzat the actual case or are they somewhat
different beasts?
I also seem to recall that the later NT4 service packs installed the crypto
stuff -- was that the case or is it there by default? Does anyone have links
handy on where to go verify this in MS's webpages?
Does the crypto lib stuff come installed by default in the Win2k environments?
thanks,
JeffH
