HOW TO: Remove the preferred keyserver from your public key and then republish on the PGP Global Directory.

Article Id: 180149
Status: Published
Updated On: 11-03-2011 13:52
Legacy Id: HOWTO41988
Products:
Symantec Products
Issue/Introduction:

 

Resolution:


 

Note: This answer pertains to PGP Desktop 9.0x and 9.5x installed on Windows 2000, XP, and 2003. Similar steps can be used on the Mac OS X.

 

The steps below apply to users running BlackBerry Device Software 4.1 with BES 4.0.2 or BES 4.1.

For versions of the PGP Support Pack for BlackBerry newer than 4.1 with BES 4.1.2+ the steps below are not required.



The most commom situations that warrant the need to remove a preferred keyserver are:

 

  • Unable to decrypt on a BlackBerry handheld as the message was encoded using PGP/MIME. To be able to view encrypted messages on a BlackBerry, partitioned encoding style must be used.
  • PGP Email Proxy is not enabled and messages arrive as two attachments (message.pgp, version.txt).

If the preferred keyserver is our PGP Global Directory (ldap://keyserver.pgp.com), it is recommended that you follow a three step process to remove the preferred keyserver. These steps are:

 

  1. Remove PGP Key from the PGP Global Directory.

     
  2. Remove Preferred Keyserver from your PGP Key properties.

     
  3. Upload your updated PGP Key to the PGP Global Directory manually through https://keyserver.pgp.com. If you do not wish to publish your key again to the directory, you do not need to perform this step.

     

Remove PGP Key from the PGP Global Directory

To remove your key from the PGP Global Directory open a web browser and navigate to https://keyserver.pgp.com

 

  1. Enter your email address in the Remove Your Key field. Click Remove.

     
  2. Click Accept. 

     
  3. Click Done. 

     
  4. Check your email.  Follow the link to complete the key removal. 

     
  5. Click Accept and your key is now removed from the PGP Global Directory.

 

Remove Preferred Keyserver from your PGP Key properties

  1. Click the PGP Tray icon in the Windows System tray and then click Open PGP Desktop
     
  2. Click on All Keys and select your keypair.

     
  3. Right Click on your keypair and choose Key Properties.

     
  4. Click on ldap://keyserver.pgp.com to the right of Keyserver.

     
  5. Highlight keyserver.pgp.com and then delete keyserver.pgp.com and press Ok.

Upload Your Updated PGP Key to the PGP Global Directory Manually

If you wish to publish your key on the PGP Global Directory without a keyserver listed, follow the instructions below. Otherwise you can redistribute your key to those who will encrypt email to you manually.

 

Caution: If you use PGP Desktop to send this key back to the PGP Global directory by right clicking on your key and selecting the Send To->ldap://keyserver.pgp.com:389 option, the PGP Global Directory will be automatically added to your key again as a preferred keyserver. You must upload the key manually as described below.


 

To publish your key on the PGP Global Directory without adding keyserver.pgp.com as a keyserver you should do the following:
 

  1. Right click on your key. Choose Copy Public Key.

     
  2. Open a browser to keyserver.pgp.com and click Upload a Key Block.

     
  3. Paste your public key block that we previously copied into this window and click Upload.

     
  4. Click Done on the next page and check your email inbox for the verification message from PGP Global Directory. Follow the link in that message to verify your email address.