Recommended Posts

I just installed Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64-bit and for some reason I just cannot generate a pgp key.  I goto Passwords and Keys and File -> New -> PGP Key -> Enter Name and Email ->  Then I enter password and nothing happens.  It was saying "Could Not Generate PGP Key - General Error" but I changed my password length from 50 characters to 25 and now it's just not saying anything.  I press okay and nothing happens.  If someone could help me out that would be great. Could this be a file/folder permission issue, idk? Also I'm kind of a new Linux user, so keep that in mind.  Thanks in advanced for the help.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1241364-pgp-error-with-linux-mint/
Share on other sites

I tried this, but it's still not working....If someone could help me out that'd be great.  It's a new mint install..Heres my output....

gpg --gen-key

gpg (GnuPG) 1.4.16; Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Please select what kind of key you want:
   (1) RSA and RSA (default)
   (2) DSA and Elgamal
   (3) DSA (sign only)
   (4) RSA (sign only)
Your selection? 1
RSA keys may be between 1024 and 4096 bits long.
What keysize do you want? (2048) 4096
Requested keysize is 4096 bits
Please specify how long the key should be valid.
         0 = key does not expire
      <n>  = key expires in n days
      <n>w = key expires in n weeks
      <n>m = key expires in n months
      <n>y = key expires in n years
Key is valid for? (0) 0
Key does not expire at all
Is this correct? (y/N) y

You need a user ID to identify your key; the software constructs the user ID
from the Real Name, Comment and Email Address in this form:
    "Heinrich Heine (Der Dichter) <heinrichh@duesseldorf.de>"

Real name: K
Email address: k@gmail.com
Comment:
You selected this USER-ID:
    "K <k@gmail.com>"

Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
You need a Passphrase to protect your secret key.

We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 231 more bytes)
..+++++

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 198 more bytes)
........+++++
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 250 more bytes)
+++++

Not enough random bytes available.  Please do some other work to give
the OS a chance to collect more entropy! (Need 256 more bytes) 

why it's not working? looks like it's collecting all the needed bytes. just let it run and do some work, browse the web. it might take up to 15mins till ennough random bytes are collected. be patient.  :)

Ok. So the key generated alright. Also, I'm using GPA as the gui. GPA has a clipboard feature.

I wanted to know. Whats the point of having an expiration date on my gpg key if I can just generate a new one? Does it just make it so I cannot use that key to encrypt/decrypt past that date and it forces me to generate a new one? Thanks.

  On 01/01/2015 at 02:50, kman1985 said:

Ok. So the key generated alright. Also, I'm using GPA as the gui. GPA has a clipboard feature.

I wanted to know. Whats the point of having an expiration date on my gpg key if I can just generate a new one? Does it just make it so I cannot use that key to encrypt/decrypt past that date and it forces me to generate a new one? Thanks.

For personal use, there's not much use.  If you were implementing PGP in a business environment though where you were dealing with lots of data and lots of PGP keys for lots of people, where compromised security could mean lost man hours and money, expiration dates would help you make sure things stayed secure.  For example if an employee leaves your company and you forget to revoke their e-mail keys, having an expiration date makes sure they get invalidated automatically after a while anyway.  Regularly changing file encryption keys would help make sure that only people in the company with access to the updated keys have access to the files, and not adversaries who may have come into possession of of older encryption keys.

 

For your personal use though, an expiration date isn't really necessary.

  On 01/01/2015 at 02:50, kman1985 said:

Ok. So the key generated alright. Also, I'm using GPA as the gui. GPA has a clipboard feature.

I wanted to know. Whats the point of having an expiration date on my gpg key if I can just generate a new one? Does it just make it so I cannot use that key to encrypt/decrypt past that date and it forces me to generate a new one? Thanks.

 

well it looks like the clipboard is there to try to see if encryption/decryption works and can be used to directly do so

 

  Quote

 

 

How to create your encrypted message.

In the GPA, there is a clipboard tool. This is a place where you will write and encrypt your messages.

Try encrypting a message in your own key.

1) Open the clipboard in the GPA and type a message.

2) Select the encrypt option up top.

3) Select the Key that you wish to encrypt to, try your key first so you get the hang of it. The message should now become the same kind of random looking data you saw earlier.

4) Choose the decrypt option and type in your password if you encrypted to your own key, the message should now return to its original format.

 

read here

 

personally i rather use KGpg and encrypt my emails directly in Kontact/Kmail or via a Dolphin-extension i use it to encrypt/decrypt files/folders.

 

for ubuntu, use nautilus and nautilus-seahorse for encryption/decryption via the context menu.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • so you just moved data to onedrive? Or did you upgrade the disk? I see multiple options either actual SSD or NVME options on amazon for around 50 bucks.. If you are low on space, and after a cleanup/purge of you stuff you don't need your still low it would be good idea to upgrade to bigger drive.  As to /sageset:65535, I don't think that value is valid https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cleanmgr Displays the Disk Cleanup Settings dialog box and also creates a registry key to store the settings that you select. The n value, which is stored in the registry, allows you to specify tasks for Disk Cleanup to run. The n value can be any integer value from 0 to 9999. For more information, see Registry key information. So I would guess trying to use such a high value wouldn't store your settings.. You sure do not need  to use sageset or sagerun to run the disk cleanup..  That is for running it later with the same setting you pick when you set it. 
    • Yes while it's still a great browser it seems bloated more with each update by things I'm not the least interested in
    • We now know why Nvidia blocked yet another review, the new RTX 5050 is apparently terrible by Sayan Sen With its latest RTX 5000 series of GPUs, Nvidia has not been transparent with how its cards perform. The company did not ship review drivers for the RTX 5060 on launch day and has repeated the same deed with the new RTX 5050 as well. For those who may not have followed, Nvidia unveiled the GeForce RTX 5050 last month for $249 and released the Game Ready driver for the card this month with version 576.88. As such, the RTX 5050 has now been tested by Korean site Quasar Zone where the GPU has been compared against other cards that are priced around that same bracket. The site has found that Nvidia's new entry-level offering is worse than Intel's Arc B580, a card that launched around six months ago for the same price. As you can see in the image above, the Arc B580 was slightly faster on average. The biggest gap between the two was on Path of Exile 2. Another point in favor of the Arc GPU is that it has 12 Gigs of video memory whereas the RTX 5050 only has 8 GB. The 5050 was also pitted against Nvidia's last gen RTX 4060 as well as AMD's RX 7600, both of which are also 8 Gig cards. The 7600 is often found at around $250 these days while the RTX 4060 frequents around $275. The RTX 5050 is essentially neck and neck with the 4060 and is ever so slightly faster than the RX 7600. Once again this just highlights that Nvidia is essentially giving the same kind of performance that Intel and AMD GPUs have provided since last year or so. In fact, if we consider the Radeon RX 6600 and 6650 XT GPUs, which have been available for around $180 to $220 in the past, it becomes clearer just how bad of a value the RTX 5050 is as those 6000 series AMD cards probably get pretty close to the 5050 in rasterization throughput. Chances of something like "Fine Wine" are also slim given that the RTX 5050 just does not seem to have the hardware resources to pull off something like that later in this lifespan. If anything, we are more likely to see that happen from the Intel B580 GPU or AMD's $299 RX 9060 (there is already evidence of that). Source and images: Quasar Zone
    • A messaging network full of adult content. Ewww. 🤮
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      loose_observer earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      BeeJay_Balu earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      filminutz earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      SteveJaye earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • One Month Later
      MadMung0 earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      444
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      161
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      145
    4. 4
      Nick H.
      65
    5. 5
      +thexfile
      62
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!