GPG4Win slow to start

[Borden]

GPG4Win takes up to a minute to start, which is nothing in the grand scheme but frustrating when one is trying to get things done (like log into a website with a timeout). I can't figure out whether this is a feature of the software or a problem that only I have.

I dual boot between Linux and Windows on the same hardware. The gnupg folders are identical between both systems. Linux is almost instantaneous and Windows is not.

Under advice from https://www.etl-tools.com/wiki/knowledgebase/issues/gpg-issues/, I collected a verbose log out of Kleopatra. The sanitised version reads:

00:00:24 gpg[9999] enabled debug flags: memstat trust extprog
00:00:24 gpg[9999] enabled compatibility flags:
00:00:24 gpg[9999] public key is 0123456789ABCDEF
00:00:26 gpg[9999] no running keyboxd - starting 'C:\\Program Files\\GnuPG\\bin\\keyboxd.exe'
00:00:28 gpg[9999] waiting for the keyboxd to come up ... (8s)
00:00:28 gpg[9999] connection to the keyboxd established
00:00:28 gpg[9999] using subkey 0123456789ABCDEF instead of primary key FEDCBA9876543210
00:00:28 gpg[9999] encrypted with cv25519 key, ID 0123456789ABCDEF, created 2026-01-01
      "My Key"
00:00:30 gpg[9999] no running gpg-agent - starting 'C:\\Program Files\\GnuPG\\bin\\gpg-agent.exe'
00:00:32 gpg[9999] waiting for the agent to come up ... (8s)
00:00:32 gpg[9999] connection to the agent established
00:00:32 gpg[9999] pinentry launched (11111 qt 1.3.2 - - - - 0/0 -)
00:00:38 gpg[9999] AES256.CFB encrypted data
00:00:38 gpg[9999] original file name='myfile.txt'
00:00:38 gpg[9999] keydb: handles=0 locks=0 parse=4 get=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999]        build=0 update=0 insert=0 delete=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999]        reset=0 found=0 not=0 cache=0 not=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999] kid_not_found_cache: count=0 peak=0 flushes=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999] sig_cache: total=24 cached=24 good=24 bad=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999] objcache: keys=8/8/0 chains=375,1..1 buckets=383/20 attic=248
00:00:38 gpg[9999] objcache: uids=2/2/0 chains=105,1..1 buckets=107/20
00:00:38 gpg[9999] random usage: poolsize=600 mixed=0 polls=0/0 added=0/0
              outmix=0 getlvl1=0/0 getlvl2=0/0
00:00:38 gpg[9999] rndjent stat: collector=0x0000000000000000 calls=0 bytes=0
00:00:38 gpg[9999] secmem usage: 0/32768 bytes in 0 blocks

... and the time stamps show about 14 seconds from me trying to decrypt something to it actually getting decrypted. That's a good day. Sometimes it takes upwards of 45 seconds or more, with the biggest time delta being from "connection to the agent established" to "pinentry launched".

Again, I'm curious if I'm the only one suffering with this or if this is the cost of doing business or if I'm asking the right people.