Sharing Private GPG Keys

If you need multiple people to be able to decrypt high security exports or need to transfer the GPG key from one computer to another and are using GPA to manage keys and encryption/decryption in a Windows desktop environment, please follow these simple steps:

With Kleopatra

If you would like to share your key with a colleague so they can also open the export files:

1. Open Kleopatra and locate your Key Pair  

2. Right Click on your key and select Backup Secret Keys

3. Save to a USB drive (You will be prompted to input your passphrase to export the secret key).

4, On the destination PC with Kleopatra installed, choose Import from the file menu

5. Locate the Key Pair file on the USB drive and select to import it. That should import the secret and public key pairs.

6. Delete the key from the USB and empty the trash on the computer to make sure it is permanently removed.

We recommend consulting your IT Security administrator on the above process. If keys are shared it is particularly important to include the shared key's management in your security procedures.

 

with GnuPG Privacy Assistant (GPA)

  1. Ensure the computer you want to transfer the key to has the GPA program (available at https://www.gpg4win.org/)
  2. On the PC that has the private key, open GPA Key Manager and select the key to be shared - Note: the key information should show: "The key has both a private and a public part"
  3. Select menu Keys > Backup (do NOT choose Export as this will only export the public part and you need the public and private keys)
  4. Save the key (e.g. secret-key-KEYID.asc) to a USB drive.
  5. On the computer you want to transfer the key to, open GPA Key Manager and select Keys > Import Keys...
  6. Browse to the key you've saved on the USB drive (e.g. secret-key-KEYID.asc) and Open.
  7. The confirmation message should display "...1 public keys imported... 1 secret keys imported..."
  8. Once the key is successfully on the new computer, delete the key from the USB drive and empty the trash on that computer.

We recommend consulting your IT Security administrator on the above process. If keys are shared it is particularly important to include the shared key's management in your security procedures.

 

Kleopatra instructions here https://www.gpg4win.org/doc/en/gpg4win-compendium_25.html

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