This setup was initially setup for windows to linux system, however, it can be adapted for a total linux or total windows environment easily.
- Download the files from gnupg.org. In the case of windows, you can download the binary for windows.
- For windows, you’ll need an integrity checker to verify the CRC. You can grab a freely available one, or get one from MS themselves. Available at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841290
- Generate a key-pair for the host machine and target machine. (gpg –gen-key) and then choose specifics like rsa vs. dsa. Preferably use a key size of 4096 bytes.
- On target machine, you should export your public key (gpg –list-keys, then gpg –armor –export [KEYID] > mypubkey.asc
- Send the public key to host system somehow (email, USB key, ftp, etc).
- Import and sign the public key. gpg –import mypubkey.asc, followed by gpg –list-key, and to sign gpg –sign-key [KEYID]
Now that the recipients key has been generated, imported and signed in your own keyring (host machine), you are now ready to encrypt files. Ensure you encrypt them for the intended recipient. This has the added benefit that once it is encrypted, no-body can de-crypt it except the recipients machine (using their private key).
GOTCHA
In the case of windows, you’d want to do a ‘cd “\Program Files\GNU\Gnupg” to get to the right folder. Then do all of your work there… Alternatively, you could add the Program Files/gnu/gnupg/ directory to your path statement. This would enable you to be able to run GPG from any directory.