How to import secret gpg key (copied from one machine to another)?
You need to add --import
to the command line to import the private key. You need not 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 \"5\ry\r\"; 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