This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Does Thunderbird share or get PGP keys from the GPG4Win keystore?

  • 1 reply
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by tromlet

tromlet
tromlet
more options

So, recently my keys expired, and I extended the expiry data via Kleopatra, a nice interface that comes with the GPG4Win suite - and I exported those keys out to the keys.openpgp.org keyservers. When I search for those keys at openpgp.org, they have the proper, updated expiry dates - and they show as that in Kleopatra - but when I see those keys (and all the exact same imported third-party public keys I've pulled into Kleopatra), they have the old expiry dates, and I cannot sign or encrypt emails. It's quite annoying.

What gives?

Also, what keyserver does Thunderbird use?!?

So, recently my keys expired, and I extended the expiry data via Kleopatra, a nice interface that comes with the GPG4Win suite - and I exported those keys out to the keys.openpgp.org keyservers. When I search for those keys at openpgp.org, they have the proper, updated expiry dates - and they show as that in Kleopatra - but when I see those keys (and all the exact same imported third-party public keys I've pulled into Kleopatra), they have the old expiry dates, and I cannot sign or encrypt emails. It's quite annoying. What gives? Also, what keyserver does Thunderbird use?!?

Chosen solution

I figured it out.

This is what the issue I had was. Frustratingly, Kleopatra WILL change the expiration date of your *PRIVATE* key - the public key will still languish with the old date.

To change this within Kleopatra, perform the following:

1. Double left-click the key you're trying to update 2. Left-click the "More Details..." button 3. Right-click the key which features "Encrypt" under the "Usage" column 4. Left-click "Change End of Validity Period..." 5. Change the expiration date to your liking (I matched the expiration date of my public key to be the same as the expiration date of my private key) 6. Left-click the "OK" button.

At that point, you should be able to export your public and private keys from Kleopatra and import them into Thunderbird, and Thunderbird should reflect the proper expiration date again, and should be usable.

The keyserver Thunderbird uses is: vks://keys.openpgp.org

The "vks" protocol identifier means that this is a Verifying Key Server.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (1)

tromlet
tromlet Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

I figured it out.

This is what the issue I had was. Frustratingly, Kleopatra WILL change the expiration date of your *PRIVATE* key - the public key will still languish with the old date.

To change this within Kleopatra, perform the following:

1. Double left-click the key you're trying to update 2. Left-click the "More Details..." button 3. Right-click the key which features "Encrypt" under the "Usage" column 4. Left-click "Change End of Validity Period..." 5. Change the expiration date to your liking (I matched the expiration date of my public key to be the same as the expiration date of my private key) 6. Left-click the "OK" button.

At that point, you should be able to export your public and private keys from Kleopatra and import them into Thunderbird, and Thunderbird should reflect the proper expiration date again, and should be usable.

The keyserver Thunderbird uses is: vks://keys.openpgp.org

The "vks" protocol identifier means that this is a Verifying Key Server.