Installing OpenSSL for Windows

Blowfish Cipher Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟OpenSSL "enc -bf-ecb" for Blowfish/ECB Encryption

∟Installing OpenSSL for Windows

A tutorial example is provided on how to download and install the binary version of OpenSSL 0.9.8h on Windows. Installing the source version of OpenSSL requires compilation of C code.

If you want to use OpenSSL to perform Blowfish encryption, you need to download and install it on your local system.

OpenSSL is officially distributed in C source code format. This is not a problem for Unix systems where C compiler is always available. But if you have a Windows system, you will have a hard time to install OpenSSL in C source code format. What you should do is to find a pre-compiled binary version for Windows. Here is how I installed OpenSSL on my Windows system:

1. Go to http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/openssl.htm, and download the "Setup" version of "Complete package, except sources", openssl-0.9.8h-1-setup.exe.

2. Double-click on openssl-0.9.8h-1-setup.exe to install OpenSSL to \local\gnuwin32 directory.

3. Go back to the same page, download the "ZIP" version of "Documentation", openssl-0.9.8h-1-doc.zip.

4. Unzip openssl-0.9.8h-1-doc.zip to \local\gnuwin32 directory.

5. Open command line window, and try the following command:

C:\herong>\local\gnuwin32\bin\openssl version
OpenSSL 0.9.8h 28 May 2008

C:\herong>\local\gnuwin32\bin\openssl help
openssl:Error: '-help' is an invalid command.

Standard commands
asn1parse      ca             ciphers        crl            crl2pkcs7
dgst           dh             dhparam        dsa            dsaparam
enc            engine         errstr         gendh          gendsa
genrsa         nseq           ocsp           passwd         pkcs12
pkcs7          pkcs8          rand           req            rsa
rsautl         s_client       s_server       s_time         sess_id
smime          speed          spkac          verify         version
x509
......

If you see the list of commands printed by OpenSSL, you know that your installation is done correctly.

Note that the pre-compiled binary version for Windows is OpenSSL 0.9.8h, which is older than the source version OpenSSL 1.0.2e. OpenSSL 0.9.8h version is good enough for you to use its Blowfish functionalities.