How to: Store Asymmetric Keys in a Key Container
Asymmetric private keys should never be stored verbatim or in plain text on the local computer. If you need to store a private key, you should use a key container. For more information on key containers, see the CryptoAPI section in the Platform SDK documentation at https://msdn.microsoft.com.
To create an asymmetric key and save it in a key container
Create a new instance of a CspParameters class and pass the name that you want to call the key container to the CspParameters.KeyContainerNamefield.
Create a new instance of a class that derives from the AsymmetricAlgorithm class (usually RSACryptoServiceProvider or DSACryptoServiceProvider) and pass the previously created CspParameters object to its constructor.
To delete a key from a key container
Create a new instance of a CspParameters class and pass the name that you want to call the key container to the CspParameters.KeyContainerName field.
Create a new instance of a class that derives from the AsymmetricAlgorithm class (usually RSACryptoServiceProvider or DSACryptoServiceProvider) and pass the previously created CspParameters object to its constructor.
Set the PersistKeyInCSP property of the class that derives from AsymmetricAlgorithm to false (False in Visual Basic).
Call the Clear method of the class that derives from AsymmetricAlgorithm. This method releases all resources of the class and clears the key container.
Example
The following example demonstrates how to create an asymmetric key, save it in a key container, retrieve the key at a later time, and delete the key from the container.
Notice that that code in the GenKey_SaveInContainer method and the GetKeyFromContainer method is similar. When you specify a key container name for a CspParameters object and pass it to an AsymmetricAlgorithm object with the PersistKeyInCsp property or PersistKeyInCsp property set to true, the following occurs. If a key container with the specified name does not exist, then one is created and the key is persisted. If a key container with the specified name does exist, then the key in the container is automatically loaded into the current AsymmetricAlgorithm object. Therefore, the code in the GenKey_SaveInContainer method persists the key because it is run first, while the code in the GetKeyFromContainer method loads the key because it is run second.
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Security.Cryptography
_
Public Class StoreKey
Public Shared Sub Main()
Try
' Create a key and save it in a container.
GenKey_SaveInContainer("MyKeyContainer")
' Retrieve the key from the container.
GetKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer")
' Delete the key from the container.
DeleteKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer")
' Create a key and save it in a container.
GenKey_SaveInContainer("MyKeyContainer")
' Delete the key from the container.
DeleteKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer")
Catch e As CryptographicException
Console.WriteLine(e.Message)
End Try
End Sub
Public Shared Sub GenKey_SaveInContainer(ByVal ContainerName As String)
' Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
' name used to store the RSA key pair.
Dim cp As New CspParameters()
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName
' Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
' the key container MyKeyContainerName.
Dim rsa As New RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp)
' Display the key information to the console.
Console.WriteLine("Key added to container: {0}", rsa.ToXmlString(True))
End Sub
Public Shared Sub GetKeyFromContainer(ByVal ContainerName As String)
' Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
' name used to store the RSA key pair.
Dim cp As New CspParameters()
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName
' Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
' the key container MyKeyContainerName.
Dim rsa As New RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp)
' Display the key information to the console.
Console.WriteLine("Key retrieved from container : {0}", rsa.ToXmlString(True))
End Sub
Public Shared Sub DeleteKeyFromContainer(ByVal ContainerName As String)
' Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
' name used to store the RSA key pair.
Dim cp As New CspParameters()
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName
' Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
' the key container.
Dim rsa As New RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp)
' Delete the key entry in the container.
rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = False
' Call Clear to release resources and delete the key from the container.
rsa.Clear()
Console.WriteLine("Key deleted.")
End Sub
End Class
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
public class StoreKey
{
public static void Main()
{
try
{
// Create a key and save it in a container.
GenKey_SaveInContainer("MyKeyContainer");
// Retrieve the key from the container.
GetKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer");
// Delete the key from the container.
DeleteKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer");
// Create a key and save it in a container.
GenKey_SaveInContainer("MyKeyContainer");
// Delete the key from the container.
DeleteKeyFromContainer("MyKeyContainer");
}
catch(CryptographicException e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
}
public static void GenKey_SaveInContainer(string ContainerName)
{
// Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
// name used to store the RSA key pair.
CspParameters cp = new CspParameters();
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName;
// Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
// the key container MyKeyContainerName.
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp);
// Display the key information to the console.
Console.WriteLine("Key added to container: \n {0}", rsa.ToXmlString(true));
}
public static void GetKeyFromContainer(string ContainerName)
{
// Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
// name used to store the RSA key pair.
CspParameters cp = new CspParameters();
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName;
// Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
// the key container MyKeyContainerName.
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp);
// Display the key information to the console.
Console.WriteLine("Key retrieved from container : \n {0}", rsa.ToXmlString(true));
}
public static void DeleteKeyFromContainer(string ContainerName)
{
// Create the CspParameters object and set the key container
// name used to store the RSA key pair.
CspParameters cp = new CspParameters();
cp.KeyContainerName = ContainerName;
// Create a new instance of RSACryptoServiceProvider that accesses
// the key container.
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsa = new RSACryptoServiceProvider(cp);
// Delete the key entry in the container.
rsa.PersistKeyInCsp = false;
// Call Clear to release resources and delete the key from the container.
rsa.Clear();
Console.WriteLine("Key deleted.");
}
}
Output
Key added to container: <RSAKeyValue> Key Information A</RSAKeyValue> Key retrieved from container : <RSAKeyValue> Key Information A</RSAKeyValue> Key deleted. Key added to container: <RSAKeyValue> Key Information B</RSAKeyValue> Key deleted.
See Also
Concepts
Generating Keys for Encryption and Decryption
Encrypting Data
Decrypting Data