GnuPG for Win (XP) Installation

[John Clizbe]

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Sean C. C. wrote:
> I downloaded the gnupg for windows freeware. But am a little confused 
> about the installation process. I have PGP installed also, but plan on 
> uninstalling it. I don't know if that affects GPG and its installation 
> at all.

Since you're using Thunderbird and inquirying about GnuPG, I'll make the
short leap-of-faith that you're also wanting to use Enigmail. More about
that a bit later...

There is no need to uninstall PGP. GnuPG and PGP coexist rather well. You
can also share the same keyring files. I use the PGPkeys GUI to manipulate
my keys and then GnUPG+Enigmail to sign and/or encrypt.


> Anyways, I downloaded the zip and sig. The sig I ended up doing nothing 
> with. I extracted the zip and according to the readme.w32 file copied 
> the exe's to directory c:\gnupg. I also double-clicked on the .reg file 
> to add those keys to my registry. I'm not sure what else I need to do. 
> When I try to use the enigmail plugin for Thunderbird 1.0 it tells me 
> that gpg can't find 'iconv.dll'. It was not included in the .zip file 
> and the readme.w32 does not mention it at all.

The .sig is for verifying you have an uncorrupt/unaltered download. Bit of
a catch-22 for a new install.

You may wish to checkout the GnuPG install and config page for Enigmail at
http://enigmail.mozdev.org/gpgconf.html. It was written by a couple of the
Enigmail team experienced at answering the "HELP!!!!" questions from
Windows users. It was written from the viewpoint of installing GnuPG in
the most multi-user manner and follows most current Windows file location
advice.

(ObDisclaimer: I am biased - I co-wrote it with Barry Porter.)

What you have already will most likely work, so don't start over unless
you feel compelled.

iconv.dll - covered on gpgconf page above. Download
ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/libiconv-1.9.1.dll.zip, extract
iconv.dll to same directory with GnuPG executables. Warning will go away.


> In fact, the doesn't explicitly say to move any files to the C:\gnupg 
> directory only to create it (or another directory of my choosing) and 
> create the registry keys. Since I followed the instructions I'm 
> *assuming* that the included registry keys should work. For what I'm not 
> sure. Then to enter gpg and see what happens. Well, it would appear that 
> when I did that from "my documents" it created public and secret 
> keyrings in the c:\gnupg folder.

The registry keys control where GnuPG looks for some of its files.

The HomeDir registry key controls where GnuPG looks for/writes keyring
files (This is not 100% the case, but it'll do for 99.9% of the cases).
In your case C:\GnuPG.

The default location of the translation files (*.mo) would be
C:\GnuPG\Locale in this case.
> 
> Below is what happens when I try to create a key:

No real need to create a new keypair, unless you want the practice. Your
old PGP keypair will work.

Once Gnupg is working well enough that 'gpg --version' works,

0) Open a DOS Window (run CMD.EXE)

1) cd to the directotory where your PGP keyrings (pubring.pkr &
secring.skr) live.

2) Import your PGP keys to GnuPG:

	gpg --import secring.skr
	gpg --import pubring.pkr

3) You'll need to go in and assign "ultimate" trust to each public/Secret
keypair - this is analogous to PGP's implied trust key setting.

	gpg --edit 0xDecafBad trust   <-- replace DecafBad with the keyID
                                          of each keypair
	5	<-- for Ultimate
	y	<-- yes you REALLY want to do this
	save	<-- to save and exit

The Enigmail mailing list/newsgroup is a good resource for any additional
questions that may arise. The Yahoo! PGP-Basics group can help you with
getting GnuPG & PGP to coexist.


- --
John P. Clizbe                   Inet:   John (a) Mozilla-Enigmail.org
Golden Bear Networks             PGP/GPG KeyID: 0x608D2A10
"Gir-r-r-r-rl" is like this Universal Gay term, like 'Aloha' or 'Shalom'.
	- Margaret Cho
"Only the truly intelligent know when they are being stupid."
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Comment: When cryptography is outlawed, b25seSBvdXRsYXdzIHdpbGwgdXNlIG
Comment: Annoy John Asscraft -- Use Strong Encryption.
Comment: It's YOUR right - for the time being.
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

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