Testing the CSP

In accordance with the U.S. Department of Commerce's export restrictions concerning cryptography, Microsoft must digitally sign a CSP so that it will run on Microsoft operating systems. The Microsoft Cryptographic Service Provider Developer's Kit (CSPDK) is designed to help test a CSP. After the CSP has been tested and it is ready for signing, send e-mail to cspsign@microsoft.com.

Note that Microsoft can only distribute the CSPDK to legal residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Information on how to obtain the CSPDK can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/security/tech/cryptoapi/cspdkintrocontent.asp.

CSP testing involves the following steps:

1. Sign the CSP with the Sign.exe utility to produce a debug signature (.sig) file. For more information, see Test Signing the CSP.
2. Install the CSP using the setup program written for the CSP
3. Run test code that calls CryptoAPI functions to test the CSP's implementations of those functions.

Developers of CSPs for Microsoft® Windows CE must develop and test their CSP using the x86 emulator from the CSPDK using Windows CE running natively on a PC.