How to Decrypt a File Using PGP
Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, is a cryptosystem developed by Phillip Zimmermann. The PGP software has undergone years of revision and changes, but its most common implementations today uses the OpenPGP IETF standard that was called for by Zimmermann and other members of the PGP Inc. team in the late 1990s. Today, PGP Corporation, a company headed by ex-members of the original PGP team, offers a common commercial application called PGP Desktop that uses the OpenPGP standard for encryption. Free and open source software implementation GnuPG, is another common player and the back-end for most PGP applications.
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Instructions
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Using PGP Desktop
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1
Open your file manager and navigate to the directory of the file you want to decrypt.
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2
Right-click the file and scroll down to "PGP" Select "Decrypt and Verify" from the sub-menu.
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3
Enter either your public key passphrase or the passphrase for the encrypted file. Click "OK" or press "Enter" and PGP automatically decrypts the file.
Using GnuPG
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4
Open a terminal window and navigate to the directory of the encrypted file.
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5
Type the command "GPG--Output Docname--Decrypt Docname.gpg" where "Docname" is the name of the output document and "Docname.gpg" is the name of the encrypted document. Press "Enter" to execute the command.
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6
Enter the passphrase for the document when requested to complete the decryption process.
Gpg4win
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7
Open your file manager and navigate to your encrypted files.
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8
Right-click the file and scroll down to GPGEx and click "Decrypt" from the submenu.
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9
Enter the passphrase when asked and press "Enter" to decrypt the file.
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Tips & Warnings
There are dozens of applications that use GnuPG to provide a free, desktop implementation of Open PGP. You should never have to pay for this software because of the GnuPG license.
References
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