Public Keys become disabled in PGP Desktop

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

Keys become disabled or unverified in PGP Desktop.

Resolution

This article describes the possible cause(s) and resolution when a key becomes disabled in PGP Desktop. When a key no longer appears in PGP Desktop as Verified, the key will not be able to be used for encryption until the key is Verified.

Cause(s)

The key may become unverified and disabled for use when the key has been removed or is not available on the PGP Global Directory or another keyserver that may have been added to the PGP Keyservers List in PGP Desktop.

When PGP Desktop is unable to locate the key on the keyserver, the assumption is that the key has been removed from the keyserver and is no longer a valid key.

Note: The default option in PGP Desktop is to Synchronize with keyservers daily.

Resolution

This may be resolved by disabling the option to Synchronize with keyservers daily in the PGP Desktop options.

Please use the following steps to disable the Synchronize with keyservers daily option.

1. Open PGP Desktop
2. From the PGP Desktop menu, click Tools>PGP Options..
3. Select the Keys tab.
4. In the Synchronization section, remove the check mark from the Synchronize with keyservers daily and click OK.