How to specify private key when decrypting a file using GnuPG?

I am trying to decrypt a file with GnuPG, but when using the command below:

gpg --decrypt filename.gpg

I get the following message:

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 3662FD5E

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it. Is there any option I can include when doing the decryption to point to this key?

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 28 '15 at 15:26

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

1

What does gpg --list-secret-keys 0x3662FD5E print?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:18

No, it doesn't. Is there any way I can add it?

– Crista23
May 28 '15 at 15:21

How did you obtain the private key?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:36

What does this ID actually represent?

– Nishant
Aug 1 '18 at 16:17

add a comment |

I am trying to decrypt a file with GnuPG, but when using the command below:

gpg --decrypt filename.gpg

I get the following message:

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 3662FD5E

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it. Is there any option I can include when doing the decryption to point to this key?

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 28 '15 at 15:26

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

1

What does gpg --list-secret-keys 0x3662FD5E print?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:18

No, it doesn't. Is there any way I can add it?

– Crista23
May 28 '15 at 15:21

How did you obtain the private key?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:36

What does this ID actually represent?

– Nishant
Aug 1 '18 at 16:17

add a comment |

I am trying to decrypt a file with GnuPG, but when using the command below:

gpg --decrypt filename.gpg

I get the following message:

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 3662FD5E

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it. Is there any option I can include when doing the decryption to point to this key?

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

I am trying to decrypt a file with GnuPG, but when using the command below:

gpg --decrypt filename.gpg

I get the following message:

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 3662FD5E

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it. Is there any option I can include when doing the decryption to point to this key?

linux encryption gnupg

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

edited May 28 '15 at 17:17

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

asked May 28 '15 at 15:10

Crista23

168115

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 28 '15 at 15:26

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

migrated from stackoverflow.com May 28 '15 at 15:26

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

1

What does gpg --list-secret-keys 0x3662FD5E print?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:18

No, it doesn't. Is there any way I can add it?

– Crista23
May 28 '15 at 15:21

How did you obtain the private key?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:36

What does this ID actually represent?

– Nishant
Aug 1 '18 at 16:17

add a comment |

1

What does gpg --list-secret-keys 0x3662FD5E print?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:18

No, it doesn't. Is there any way I can add it?

– Crista23
May 28 '15 at 15:21

How did you obtain the private key?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:36

What does this ID actually represent?

– Nishant
Aug 1 '18 at 16:17

What does gpg --list-secret-keys 0x3662FD5E print?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:18

No, it doesn't. Is there any way I can add it?

– Crista23
May 28 '15 at 15:21

How did you obtain the private key?

– Jonas Schäfer
May 28 '15 at 15:36

What does this ID actually represent?

– Nishant
Aug 1 '18 at 16:17

add a comment |

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it.

I understand this as "I've got a file containing the private key, but do not know how to tell GnuPG to use it".

GnuPG requires keys (both public and private) to be stored in the GnuPG keyring. This is as easy as

gpg --import [keyfile]

Afterwards, you should be able to decrypt the file exactly the way you already tried.

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

2

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

1

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

add a comment |

bash-4.2$ gpg --import b_secret.key

gpg: key 23E7859B: already in secret keyring

gpg: Total number processed: 1

gpg:       secret keys read: 1

gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

bash-4.2$ gpg --decrypt b_txt.asc

gpg: key 23E7859B: secret key without public key - skipped

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 04702E37

gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

1

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

add a comment |

You don't need to expressly declare the secret key in the gpg decrypt command. If the keypair- both Public AND Private keys- as Jens states are present on the keyring on the host where you're decrypting, GPG will automagically determine the secret key required for decryption and present a password challenge.

HOWEVER if you wish to try all (non-cached) keys (maybe you're testing a file encrypted with multiple keys), using the switch --try-all-secrets will cycle through all the secret keys on your keyring trying them in turn. ie:

gpg -d --try-all-secrets test-gpg.txt.asc

HTH- Terrence

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

add a comment |

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3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

3 Answers
3

active

oldest

votes

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it.

I understand this as "I've got a file containing the private key, but do not know how to tell GnuPG to use it".

GnuPG requires keys (both public and private) to be stored in the GnuPG keyring. This is as easy as

gpg --import [keyfile]

Afterwards, you should be able to decrypt the file exactly the way you already tried.

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

2

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

1

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

add a comment |

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it.

I understand this as "I've got a file containing the private key, but do not know how to tell GnuPG to use it".

GnuPG requires keys (both public and private) to be stored in the GnuPG keyring. This is as easy as

gpg --import [keyfile]

Afterwards, you should be able to decrypt the file exactly the way you already tried.

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

2

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

1

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

add a comment |

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it.

I understand this as "I've got a file containing the private key, but do not know how to tell GnuPG to use it".

GnuPG requires keys (both public and private) to be stored in the GnuPG keyring. This is as easy as

gpg --import [keyfile]

Afterwards, you should be able to decrypt the file exactly the way you already tried.

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

I already have the private key with which the file has been encrypted, but I am not sure how can I specify it.

I understand this as "I've got a file containing the private key, but do not know how to tell GnuPG to use it".

GnuPG requires keys (both public and private) to be stored in the GnuPG keyring. This is as easy as

gpg --import [keyfile]

Afterwards, you should be able to decrypt the file exactly the way you already tried.

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

answered May 28 '15 at 17:00

Jens Erat

12.8k114660

2

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

1

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

add a comment |

2

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

1

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

So is gpg smart enough to know which key to decrypt once you have several keys imported?

– RollRoll
Aug 11 '16 at 0:20

Yes. Usually the key is even referenced in the encrypted file, if not GnuPG tries all keys.

– Jens Erat
Aug 11 '16 at 15:35

I use GnuPG programmatically and have a keyring with hundreds of private keys and message may be encrypted with dozens of them. It seems a bit wasteful that it just tries them all (actually it tries to unlock them all using the given passphrase and takes the first one that works).

– jlh
Oct 25 '17 at 8:24

GnuPG only tries them all if the key was hidden by the sending party. It feels your use case was not one of the design targets of GnuPG. If you know the correct private key although it is not stored in the encrypted file, consider managing different GnuPG home directories/keyrings with a single private key instead.

– Jens Erat
Oct 25 '17 at 20:42

Yes, it seems that my use case isn't well suited for gpg. For completeness here's a more detailed observation: My recipient IDs are not hidden (not using -R), so gpg knows which of the maybe a dozen keys it should try, it doesn't have to try the entire keyring. However gpg doesn't know for which key I supplied the passphrase, so it does have to try those dozen keys, which slows down things considerably.

– jlh
Sep 20 '18 at 11:49

add a comment |

bash-4.2$ gpg --import b_secret.key

gpg: key 23E7859B: already in secret keyring

gpg: Total number processed: 1

gpg:       secret keys read: 1

gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

bash-4.2$ gpg --decrypt b_txt.asc

gpg: key 23E7859B: secret key without public key - skipped

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 04702E37

gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

1

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

add a comment |

bash-4.2$ gpg --import b_secret.key

gpg: key 23E7859B: already in secret keyring

gpg: Total number processed: 1

gpg:       secret keys read: 1

gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

bash-4.2$ gpg --decrypt b_txt.asc

gpg: key 23E7859B: secret key without public key - skipped

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 04702E37

gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

1

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

add a comment |

bash-4.2$ gpg --import b_secret.key

gpg: key 23E7859B: already in secret keyring

gpg: Total number processed: 1

gpg:       secret keys read: 1

gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

bash-4.2$ gpg --decrypt b_txt.asc

gpg: key 23E7859B: secret key without public key - skipped

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 04702E37

gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

bash-4.2$ gpg --import b_secret.key

gpg: key 23E7859B: already in secret keyring

gpg: Total number processed: 1

gpg:       secret keys read: 1

gpg:  secret keys unchanged: 1

bash-4.2$ gpg --decrypt b_txt.asc

gpg: key 23E7859B: secret key without public key - skipped

gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 04702E37

gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

edited Dec 4 '15 at 11:22

Vlastimil Ovčáčík

1,56211025

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

answered Dec 4 '15 at 10:27

anshul

6111

1

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

add a comment |

1

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

Welcome to SuperUser, your suggestion is already in another answer. You should upvote that answer instead of making new one. You don't have enough reputation to do that yet, wait until you do.

– Vlastimil Ovčáčík
Dec 4 '15 at 11:02

add a comment |

gpg -d --try-all-secrets test-gpg.txt.asc

HTH- Terrence

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

add a comment |

gpg -d --try-all-secrets test-gpg.txt.asc

HTH- Terrence

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

add a comment |

gpg -d --try-all-secrets test-gpg.txt.asc

HTH- Terrence

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

gpg -d --try-all-secrets test-gpg.txt.asc

HTH- Terrence

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

answered Feb 7 at 13:11

F1Linux

1114

add a comment |

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