GnuPG Privacy Guard Instructions
These instructions tell you how to install and configure the high-security free and open source encryption/decryption software called
gnupg. The latest Windows binary may be obtained from
ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary .
These instructions are for Windows users. If you use another operating system please contact us.
Steps 1-7 need only be done one time as long as you do not change
computers or your E-mail address. If you need to receive encrypted
reports on more than one computer please contact me to find out how to
copy your keys to the other computers. Only one set of keys should be used.
- Use WinZip to extract the
gnupg.zip
file to C:\
after making sure that the Use Folder Names
box is checked in the WinZip
extract dialog. This will automatically create a directory named C:\gnupg
and store the files there. You probably already have WinZip
installed; if not click http://www.winzip.com to download the free version.
- Use
Windows Explorer
or My Computer
to get to the C:\gnupg
folder created by =WinZip=
- Double-click on the
makekey BAT
file to run the gpg EXE
program to make your private and public encryption keys. gpg
will ask you a few questions. Answer them this way:
- For the first question click Enter to select the default key type (1)
- For the keysize click Enter to use the default (1024)
- Click Enter to select the default expiration (key does not expire); confirm by typing y followed by Enter
- For your "Real name" enter your first name, a space, and your last name
- For your E-mail address enter it exactly as the address you want me to use when sending you encrypted information
- For the "Comment" just type Enter (no comment is needed)
- Review the information carefully before selecting
o
for OK
- The
gpg
program may take several seconds to run. If it appears to stall, move the mouse around and click the Shift and Alt keys a few times. gpg
is collecting random data to generate your keys, and it can collect such data faster on occasion by providing data input to the system. If the program runs quickly, ignore this.
- After the program has finished running, double click on the
xportkey BAT
file to create a file called mykeys.xpr
in =C:\gnupg=
- E-mail
C:\gnupg\mykeys.xpr
as an attachment to us to provide your public key so that we can encrypt files that only you can decipher.
- To be able to easily decrypt and read encrypted Adobe Acrobat
.pdf
files we will send you, you need to use Windows Explorer
to associate files with a suffix of .gpg
with the C:\gnupg\gpgdcy BAT
file application. To use Windows Explorer
to do this, do the following:
- Select
Tools
from the menu after Windows Explorer
is open
- Select
Folder Options
- Select the
File Types
tab
- Click on the new button then type
gpg
in the file extension box and press OK
- Under the
Details Open With
section, select Change
- Browse to
C:\gnupg\gpgdcy.bat
and press Open
- Click
OK
to leave the folder options dialog
Now
.gpg
files will decrypt and open when
double-clicked on or when opening in an E-mail attachment.
Once you have completed steps 1-7 on your computer you will be able to use for example
Outlook Express
or other E-mail clients to click on encrypted attachments we send you and have these opened automatically using Adobe Acrobat Reader (which we assume you have installed). This process will store the decrypted
.pdf
file in
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\z.pdf
which you may want to delete when finished. If instead you store the encrypted attachment (which will be a
.pdf.gpg
file) in a permanent place you can open it from
Explorer
or
My Computer
with a double click. This will still create
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\z.pdf
.
Script used to create the
.zip
file:
wget -O /tmp/z.zip \
http://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/gnupg-w32cli-1.2.4.zip
cd /tmp
mkdir gpg
cd gpg
unzip ../z
echo "gpg --export > mykeys.xpr" > xportkey.bat
echo "gpg --gen-key" > makekey.bat
echo -e "gpg -o C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\z.pdf %1\nstart C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\z.pdf" > gpgdcy.bat
todos *.bat
rm -f /tmp/gnupg.zip
cd /tmp
zip gnupg.zip gpg/*.bat gpg/gpg.exe