May 13, 2009 IIS 7 Tip # 10 You can generate machine keys from the IIS manager. The machineKey element of the ASP.NET web.config specifies the algorithm and keys that ASP.NET will use for encryption. By default the validationKey and the decryptionKey keys are set to AutoGenerate which means the runtime will generate a random key for use. ASP.Net MachineKey Generator. The all-in-one ultimate online toolbox that generates all kind of keys! Every coder needs All Keys Generator in its favorites! It is provided for free and only supported by ads and donations.

1. Machine Key Stock
2. Asp.net Mvc Generate Machine Key

• The base machine key is stored in the registry in the following location: HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftASP.NET4.0.30319.0AutoGenKeyV4 Note that this key sits in the HKEYCURRENTUSER hive, so the generated machine key belongs to.
• ASP.NET machineKey Generator This is an application that will generate a valid machineKey block with random, secure, hard-coded keys that you can paste inside the in your web.config or machine.config file.
• Replace the ASP.NET machineKey in ASP.NET Core.; 2 minutes to read +2; In this article. The implementation of the machineKey element in ASP.NET is replaceable.This allows most calls to ASP.NET cryptographic routines to be routed through a replacement data protection mechanism, including the new data protection system.

6 Jul 2011CPOL

Machine key generates a unique key which helps you on single form because it helps to protect your Form Authentication cookies and page level View state

Introduction

Machine key generates a unique key which helps you on single form because it helps to protect your Form Authentication cookies and page level View state. When user sends a request and Server A receives response with form Authentication cookies, now again he sends a request which was received by Server B and attempted to decrypt form authentication cookies which was unsuccessful to decrypt because server A was using his own unique machine key and server B was using its own unique machine key to decrypt the form Authentication cookies. To avoid this problem, use the same machine key on all servers.

Generate Machine Key in IIS7

Let’s see the example on how to generate machine key for web site.

• Open your IIS Manager from Administrative tool -> Internet Information Services Manager.
• In Connection pane on left side of window, click on the website.

• Double click on Machine Key icon as shown below.
• You will see Machine key page, default encryption method is SHA1, you can change it from dropdown list as shown.
• Click on Generate Keys from Actions pane from left side of IIS window as shown.

• Click Apply as shown.

• Message will be shown on Alerts pane, 'The changes have been successfully saved.'

• Open your Web.Config file, you will find the<machineKey> inside the <system.web> section as shown.

Web.Config

Note: Apply this machine key on all web farm servers; this is my generated machine key.

Link

In this post we will see how we can Generate MachineKey using Windows PowerShell from our local development machine.

Generate gpg key command line. Problem:
Many a times when a ASP.Net application is running on production server, we get an error message stating – “Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a web farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.” This error happens because of missing machineKey property in the web.config file.

Overview:
The <machineKey> property in web.config file configures algorithms and keys to use for encryption, decryption, and validation of forms-authentication data and view-state data, and for out-of-process session state identification.This encryption prevents tempering of session data on the server. It is present under <system.web> node in web.config file and looks like below –

N.B: Do not use this machineKey on your production servers. Instead follow the steps mentioned below to generate a new one only for you.

Solution:
We will use a PowerShell script to create this machineKey. Here’s the Powershell Script

Machine Key Stock

You can save this PowerShell script as “generateMachineKey.ps1” on your hard disk. Now open Windows Powershell and perform the following steps –

• Go to the folder where you have stored the .ps1 file
• Load the Script
• Call the PowerShell Function

This will give you a new machineKey. You can copy this and paste it on to your web.config file now.

Hope you like this post.

Asp.net Mvc Generate Machine Key