Transferring from other GnuPG programs

Transferring from other GnuPG programs

This section explains how to migrate from GnuPG-based programs to Gpg4win. The installation program recognizes some of these programs and notifies you if that is the case.

As a general rule it is recommended that existing GnuPG-based programs are removed before installing Gpg4win.

The best way to do this is to use the options in the existing system before installing Gpg4win. Select the option to save any private (secret) keys, as well as all existing public keys. Save these in one or two files.

As soon as Gpg4win is installed, check if your existing keys are listed in the new program (using either GPA or WinPT). If yes, Gpg4win was able to detect the previous key storage and you need take no further action.

If the program does not list the existing keys, you must import them from your backup file(s). For more information on this topic, refer to Chapter 12 in the manual "Gpg4win for Avanced Users".

If your older system also includes GPA, you can use its back-up option, which should be very similar to the operation of GPA in Gpg4win.

If you are not able to locate your existing keys, use the 'Search' function in Windows to find the files named secring.gpg and pubring.gpg an import them per GPA.⁶

Transferring from other GnuPG programs