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Discussion => Security => Topic started by: sranon on June 20, 2011, 04:14 am

Title: GPA importing private key
Post by: sranon on June 20, 2011, 04:14 am
I exported both of my keys in GPA, so I could install a different distro.  They were saved as secret key random string of numbers.asc When i import them it shows that just my pub key is imported. If I open the file in a text editor the format is

************************************************************************
* WARNING: This file is a backup of your secret key. Please keep it in *
* a safe place.                                                        *
************************************************************************

The key backed up in this file is:

pub   string of numbers and letters
      Key fingerprint = string of numbers and letters
uid                  my username
sub   string of numbers


-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.13 (GNU/Linux)

my public key
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Am i doing something wrong, I cant afford to lose my private key again.

Shouldn't there be a section for my private key in there?
Title: Re: GPA importing private key
Post by: techlord on June 20, 2011, 08:37 am
Your private key will have a .key filename extension, not .asc.

Use this command to find your KeyID:

Code: [Select]
gpg --list-secret-keys
Output will look like this:

Code: [Select]
    /root/.gnupg/secring.gpg
    ————————
    sec   1024D/EE6E8046 2009-02-20
    uid                 Bill Till (My GPG key) <test@abc.com>
    ssb   2048g/AE3B1BD4 2009-02-20

    sec   1024D/E4635BBE 2009-03-16
    uid                  John Doe (My first key) <gpg@abc.com>
    ssb   2048g/0AC353C2 2009-03-16

Bill's KeyID is EE6E8046 and John's is E4635BBE.

Next enter this command to export the private key for Bill:

Code: [Select]
gpg -ao desiredfilename.key --export-secret-keys EE6E8046
Or for John Doe:

Code: [Select]
gpg -ao desiredfilename.key --export-secret-keys E4635BBE