GnuPG decryption problem

[Chris Poole]

Have you confirmed that the passphrase you have is correct, and it's entered
correctly? I would make sure this is the issue, by checking that gpg itself
works as expected.

1. Open Notepad, write something in it. It doesn't matter what. Save the file as
   test.txt or similar.
2. Use gpg to encrypt this file, with a command like `gpg -c -o test.gpg
   test.txt`. I am unsure of the exact command as I don't use Windows, but this
   command (with the `-c` option) will have gpg use a symmetric passphrase
   (i.e., no keys). Keep it simple, just enter a passphrase like "hello".
3. Delete test.txt
4. Open test.gpg with Notepad and ensure it's unrecognisable.
5. Decrypt test.gpg, something like `gpg -d -o test-dec.txt test.gpg`. It'll ask
   you for the passphrase you entered earlier.
6. Open test-dec.txt with Notepad, and check that you get the same text as you
   started with.

This should confirm that gpg works correctly for you, such that your "bad
passphrase" warning you're getting is the result of you having and/or entering
an incorrect passphrase.

Best of luck.


Chris Poole
[PGP BAD246F9]