GnuPG Newbie

[Faramir]

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Hash: SHA256

hoogeebear escribió:
> Hi,

  Hello!
        I have not seen any reply to your question, so I will try to
help, but keep in mind I am have been using GnuPG for just about 5
months, so I am not an expert, and anything I say can be inaccurate or
wrong.

> I am completely new to GnuPG. I have recieved a CD with a file on it I need
> to decrypt. I have never done this before. If I try to copy the text into
> the clipboard, it tells me "cannot copy, drag, or cut text containing null
> characters". If I right click on the file, amd go to GpGEE - decrypt/verify,
> I get a message box saying no data.

  There are 2 ways to use GnuPG to encrypt a file (and you have a lot of
options for each way, but I wouldn't mind about that for now):

1.- By using Asymmetric Encryption. Usually, you encrypt the file or
message to the public key of the recipient. The recipient needs to use
his/her private key to decrypt the file or message. Since you said you
are new to GnuPG, I think you didn't have a key pair (_unless_ you have
been using PGP before moving to GnuPG, or maybe the sender of the CD
asked you to generate a key). In that case, you won't be able to decrypt
the file... you would have to ask the sender to encrypt it again for you.

2.- By using Symmetric Encryption. That is the traditional kind of
encryption we all know: you encrypt a file using a password, and the
same password is required to decrypt it (sometimes a file is used as a
keyfile, but I think it is unlikely this would be the case. Of course, I
can be wrong). Have you received a password to decrypt the file? (don't
tell me the password, just tell me if you have one).

   What is the extension of the file? the usual ones are .gpg or .asc,
but of course, the sender can specify another extension, no extension at
all, or he could have renamed it... But since you have problems, any
detail can help to troubleshoot the problem.

> Am I doing something wrong??

  I am not sure, since I am not good at troubleshooting GPG... maybe you
should install GPGshell and right click the file, go to GPGshell and
select PGP Packages, that should give you some info about the file...

  The null characters message puzzles me... maybe it was encoded using a
different set of characters? I mean, maybe the sender is using chinesse
charset...

> Hope someone can help!!

  I hope someone else reply to you...


  Best Regards, and good luck
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