How can I generate random alphanumeric strings?

For both crypto & noncrypto, efficiently:

public static string GenerateRandomString(int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890") =>
    new Random().GenerateRandomString(length, charset);

public static string GenerateRandomString(this Random random, int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890") =>
    RandomString(random.NextBytes, length, charset.ToCharArray());

public static string GenerateRandomCryptoString(int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890")
{
    using (var crypto = new System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider())
        return crypto.GenerateRandomCryptoString(length, charset);
}

public static string GenerateRandomCryptoString(this RNGCryptoServiceProvider random, int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890") => 
    RandomString(random.GetBytes, length, charset.ToCharArray());

private static string RandomString(Action<byte[]> fillRandomBuffer, int length, char[] charset)
{
    if (length < 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(length), $"{nameof(length)} must be greater or equal to 0");
    if (charset is null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(charset));
    if (charset.Length == 0)
        throw new ArgumentException($"{nameof(charset)} must contain at least 1 character", nameof(charset));

    var maxIdx = charset.Length;
    var chars = new char[length];
    var randomBuffer = new byte[length * 4];
    fillRandomBuffer(randomBuffer);

    for (var i = 0; i < length; i++)
        chars[i] = charset[BitConverter.ToUInt32(randomBuffer, i * 4) % maxIdx];

    return new string(chars);
}

Using generators & LINQ. Not the fastest option (especially because it doesn't generate all the bytes in one go) but pretty neat & extensible:

private static readonly Random _random = new Random();

public static string GenerateRandomString(int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890") =>
    new string(_random.GetGenerator().RandomChars(charset.ToCharArray()).Take(length).ToArray());

public static string GenerateRandomCryptoString(int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890")
{
    using (var crypto = new System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider())
        return new string(crypto.GetGenerator().RandomChars(charset.ToCharArray()).Take(length).ToArray());
}

public static IEnumerable<char> RandomChars(this Func<uint, IEnumerable<uint>> randomGenerator, char[] charset)
{
    if (charset is null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(charset));
    if (charset.Length == 0)
        throw new ArgumentException($"{nameof(charset)} must contain at least 1 character", nameof(charset));

    return randomGenerator((uint)charset.Length).Select(r => charset[r]);
}

public static Func<uint, IEnumerable<uint>> GetGenerator(this Random random)
{
    if (random is null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(random));

    return GeneratorFunc_Inner;

    IEnumerable<uint> GeneratorFunc_Inner(uint maxValue)
    {
        if (maxValue > int.MaxValue)
            throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(maxValue));

        return Generator_Inner();

        IEnumerable<uint> Generator_Inner()
        {
            var randomBytes = new byte[4];
            while (true)
            {
                random.NextBytes(randomBytes);
                yield return BitConverter.ToUInt32(randomBytes, 0) % maxValue;
            }
        }
    }
}

public static Func<uint, IEnumerable<uint>> GetGenerator(this System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider random)
{
    if (random is null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(random));

    return Generator_Inner;

    IEnumerable<uint> Generator_Inner(uint maxValue)
    {
        var randomBytes = new byte[4];
        while (true)
        {
            random.GetBytes(randomBytes);
            yield return BitConverter.ToUInt32(randomBytes, 0) % maxValue;
        }
    }
}

a simpler version using LINQ for only non-crypto strings:

private static readonly Random _random = new Random();

public static string RandomString(int length, string charset = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890") =>
    new string(_random.GenerateChars(charset).Take(length).ToArray()); 

public static IEnumerable<char> GenerateChars(this Random random, string charset)
{
    if (charset is null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(charset));
    if (charset.Length == 0) throw new ArgumentException($"{nameof(charset)} must contain at least 1 character", nameof(charset));

    return random.Generator(charset.Length).Select(r => charset[r]);
}

public static IEnumerable<int> Generator(this Random random, int maxValue)
{
    if (random is null) throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(random));

    return Generator_Inner();

    IEnumerable<int> Generator_Inner() { while (true) yield return random.Next(maxValue); }
}

A simple and highly secure way might be generating the cryptography Aes key.

public static string GenerateRandomString()
{
    using Aes crypto = Aes.Create();
    crypto.GenerateKey();
    return Convert.ToBase64String(crypto.Key);
}

Simplest and most flexible solution with cryptographic security (.NET Core 3.0+):

If you're using .NET Core 3.0 or above, you can use the new static GetInt32 method (which is cryptographically secure) on the RandomNumberGenerator class to generate a random index for a given character set and populate the result that way quite easily.

This approach is far simpler than, for instance, the one proposed in this answer; and it also provides complete flexibility since you can pass in any character set you want.

public static string GenerateRandomString(int length, IEnumerable<char> charSet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789")
{
    var charArray = charSet.Distinct().ToArray();
    char[] result = new char[length];
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
        result[i] = charArray[RandomNumberGenerator.GetInt32(charArray.Length)];
    return new string(result);
}

Usage:

string randomAlphanumericString = GenerateRandomString(length: 10);

There is one of the awasome nuget packages that make this so simple.

var myObject = new Faker<MyObject>()
.RuleFor(p => p.MyAlphaNumericProperty, f => f.Random.AlphaNumeric(/*lenght*/ 7))
.Generate();

One of the good example is here.

not 100% sure, as I didn't test EVERY option here, but of the ones I did test, this one is the fastest. timed it with stopwatch and it showed 9-10 ticks so if speed is more important than security, try this:

 private static Random random = new Random(); 
 public static string Random(int length)
     {   
          var stringChars = new char[length];

          for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
              {
                  stringChars[i] = (char)random.Next(0x30, 0x7a);                  
                  return new string(stringChars);
              }
     }