How to import secret gpg key (copied from one machine to another)?
I’m trying to copy my gpg key from one machine to another.
I do:
gpg --export ${ID} > public.key
gpg --export-secret-key ${ID} > private.key
Move files to new machine, and then:
gpg --import public.key
gpg: nyckel [ID]: public key [Name, e-mail] was imported
gpg: Total number of treated keys: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
gpg --allow-secret-key-import private.key
sec [?]/[ID] [Creation date] [Name, e-mail]
ssb [?]/[SUB-ID] [Creation date]
All looks good to me, but then:
$ gpg -d [file].gpg
gpg: encrypted with 4096-bit RSA-key, id [SUB-ID], created [Creation date]
[Name, e-mail]
gpg: decryption failed: secret key not accessible
So the error message says that the file has been encrypted with [SUB-ID], which the secret key import appears to say it has imported. (The [SUB-ID] in both messages is the same).
So I’m clearly doing something wrong, but I don’t know what.
You need to add --import to the command line to import the private key. (You don’t need to use the --allow-secret-key-import flag. According to the man page: "This is an obsolete option and is not used anywhere.")
gpg --import private.key
Above is only a partial answer. Complete answer is:
gpg --import private.key
-
Given the KEYID (e.g
FA0339620046E260) from the output:gpg --edit-key {KEY} trust quit # enter 5<RETURN> (I trust ultimately) # enter y<RETURN> (Really set this key to ultimate trust - Yes) -
OR use the automated command below:
expect -c 'spawn gpg --edit-key {KEY} trust quit; send "5ryr"; expect eof'
Finally, verify that key is now trusted with [ultimate] instead of [unknown]
gpg --list-keys
I was importing from a backup that had an old version of gpg. Since the old computer wasn’t available, only the backup, I couldn’t export it first. This is what worked for me.
gpg --import old_home_dir/.gnupg/pubring.gpg
gpg --import old_home_dir/.gnupg/secring.gpg
If you want to be able to import secret keys without entering the passphrase immediately, use the --batch option.
To verify the public keys:
gpg --list-keys
To verify the secret keys:
gpg --list-secret-keys