Intermittently, Gpg4win fails to log in under the service account

GnuPG Help
1

Use Case:

  • A scheduled automated job invokes the PGP encryption executable at runtime.
  • This job runs under the context of a dedicated service account, which is configured for auto-login on a Windows server.
  • The same service account is also used by other third-party applications in similar automated processes, all of which function without issue.

Issue:

  • Intermittently , Gpg4win fails to log in under the service account.
  • We’ve been unable to identify a clear root cause, and other processes using the same account continue to operate normally.
2

Hello @Dan1, which version of Windows and which of Gpg4win are you using?

3

Hi @cklassen thanks for getting back to me.
Answer to your question:
Windows 2019 Datacenter version 1809
Gpg4win version 2.3.3
Kleopatra version 2.2.0

To overcome the issue I granted the service account gpg2.exe file.
User has not reported issue since.
Any suggestion will be welcomed as we’d like to upgrade to the newest version

4

I’m a little bit confused. First you spoke about an “automated job” then about a user who didn’t report anything since your change. Do both access the same service account?

Furthermore, you wrote in the first post

What do you mean by “log in”?

Generally, Gpg4win works with multiple components, e.g. the gpg-agent so if one of them doesn’t work because of missing permissions that might prevent Gpg4win from working as expected.

1 Like
5

And my question is: Do you really expect support for a version from 2016?
Update first and if things then do not work, ask again.
You should be aware that several security issues have been found and fixed since 2016.

6

Hello @eebb and @cklassen point taken.
I have downloaded the newest version of Gpg4Win 4.4.1 on our test server the installation isn’t straightforward.
Are you able to guide on where I can find an installation guidance regarding the Gpg4Win 4.4.1 version ?

7

The wiki contains a guide. If you don’t have to change any defaults it should be very easy to install Gpg4win.

8

Thanks @cklassen I’ll give that a try.

1 Like
9

Hi @cklassen , @eebb following upgrading GppWin to the latest version on our UAT .
Client are getting the below error “No appropriate OpenPGP secret key for decryption found“

image
image1041×143 65.2 KB

10

and if that help when checking the version it’s still showing the old version :thinking:

image
image741×441 111 KB

11

i can’t resist: have you tried turning it off and on again? :wink: but seriously, windows might just need a reboot.

if you’re still seeing an old version afterwards, clearly the upgrade process wasn’t successful in discovering and uninstalling all ancient components. in that case i would suggest:

  1. properly backup your data
  2. run where gpg to see which executable is being run; is that really the same path Gpg4Win installed GnuPG to?
  3. uninstall everything Gpg4Win and/or GnuPG
  4. reboot
  5. verify the removal was complete (check folders below program files directories of your system)
  6. install the most recent version of Gpg4Win
  7. reboot
  8. check gpg --version again
12

@m.eik i tried the above and it is still showing the previous version.

13

what does where gpg show? there seems to be a second installation of at least gpg on your system, earlier in %PATH%.

btw, what is the software shown in your "Output (error)" screenshot? is that simply an editor the error message was copied to? is it possible a third party app installed its own copy of gpg.exe?