How to Delete GPG Keys in Linux (2024)

Is your GPG keyring overloaded with hundreds of unnecessary entries? If yes, then you should immediately delete the revoked, unsigned, expired keys. The ideal solution of this issue is to only keep the keys that have signed your public key and then import the new keys as per requirements. Do you not know how to delete GPG keys in Linux? No worries! This write-up will demonstrate how to delete GPG keys of single and multiple users. The procedures of using “uid” and the “Key ID” for deleting the private and public keys will be provided as well. So, let’s start!

Type of GPG keys

The GPG key pair comprises two types of keys: Private and Public keys. You can use the public key for the data encryption, and that encrypted data will be decrypted using the Private key. As a Linux user, you can only share your Public key. For security reasons, you must keep your Private key secret. Anyone can use your public key to encrypt the data; however, the private key will be needed to decrypt it.

How to list GPG keys in Linux

The gpg command permits Linux users to list public keys and private keys using two different commands. For instance, the “–list-keys” option is added in the “gpg” command for listing the public GPG keys from the public key:

$ gpg --list-keys

In the below-given output, “pub” represents Public key, “uid” indicates the “User ID”, and “sub” shows the Subkey:

How to Delete GPG Keys in Linux (1)

The secret keyring stores the private GPG keys, and to list them on the Linux terminal, add the “–list-secret-keys” in the “gpg” command and execute it:

$ gpg --list-secret-keys

Here, “sec” represents Secret or Private key, “uid” is for the User ID, and “ssb” indicates the Secret Subkey:

How to Delete GPG Keys in Linux (2)

Note: To delete the GPG keys of a specific user, note down its user ID “uid” and “Key ID” from the output of the above-given commands and then move to the next section.

How to delete GPG keys of a single user in Linux

There are two methods for deleting a user’s public and private GPG keys; either you can delete them using the user ID “uid” or their Key ID (Public ID). Also, remember that you have to delete the private key first and then move towards the public key deletion process, as GPG only permits you to delete the public key when its related private key is removed from the system.

Here is the syntax for deleting private GPG using the “uid”:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key [uid]

For instance, to delete the GPG keys of the user “Liza”, we will first delete its private key by specifying the “Liza” “uid” in the following command:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key liza

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A confirmation dialog box will appear on your screen, click on the “Delete Key” button, and the private key of the specified user will be deleted within a few seconds:

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Now, check out the syntax for deleting the public GPG of the user by using its “uid”:

$ gpg --delete-key [uid]

To delete the private of the “Liza”, we will write out the following command in the terminal:

$ gpg --delete-key liza

Enter “y” to confirm the deletion process, and you are all done!

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Next, list out the public and private keys for the verification purpose:

$ gpg --list-keys

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$ gpg --list-secret-keys

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Now, we will demonstrate the GPG key deletion method using a user’s Key ID. To delete a user’s private GPG key, we will follow the below-given syntax:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key [Key_ID]

For instance, to delete the private GPG key of “john”, we will add its Key ID in the “gpg” command in the following way:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key 1B61835F2E64E1C62A9A4725F88BAB439C28653E

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Click on the “Delete key” button to confirm that you want to delete the secret key of the mentioned user permanently:

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The error-free output indicates that John’s private key is deleted. Now, to delete the public key, we will execute the “gpg –delete-key” command with its Key ID:

$ gpg --delete-key 1B61835F2E64E1C62A9A4725F88BAB439C28653E

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Check out the list of public and private keys to confirm whether the deletion operation worked or not:

$ gpg --list-keys

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How to Delete GPG Keys in Linux (14)

How to delete GPG keys of multiple users in Linux

The “gpg” command also permits you to delete the GPG keys of multiple users at once, and it follows the order for the deletion in which the uids or the Key IDs are added.

Before moving towards, we will list out the private and public GPG keys and note down the uid, the private and Key ID of the “sharqa” and “fred” user:

$ gpg --list-secret-keys

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Using the Linux terminal, you can delete the GPG keys of the multiple users by adding their uids in the gpg command:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key [uid1] [uid2]

For instance, we will execute the following command for deleting private keys of “sharqa” and “fred” with the help of their “uids”:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key sharqa fred

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The gpg command will firstly delete the secret key of the user “sharqa,” and then it will remove the fred’s key from the secret keyring:

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Lastly, we will delete the public keys as well:

$ gpg --delete-key sharqa fred

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Similarly, if you want to delete the private GPG key of multiple users by using their Key IDs, then have a look at the below-given syntax:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key [Key_ID1] [Key_ID2]…

For instance, to delete the private GPG key of “sharqa” and “fred”, we will add their Key IDs in the following way:

$ gpg --delete-secret-key BCD7B50F5AD69B6B931E85E32E6E1BEE9855E1CE B7537CEAA0C89170A6AB4065F6F040E15E66CEA2

Note that we have added the Key ID of the “sharqa” first; that’s why its private key is going to delete before fred’s:

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Now, hit the “Delete Key” button for the confirmation:

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At this point, the private key of the user “sharqa” is deleted, and the gpg command will move towards the deletion of fred’s key:

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The above-given error-free output indicates that the private keys of both users are now deleted. In the next step, we will write the following command for deleting the sharqa’s and fred’s public keys from the public keyring:

$ gpg --delete-key BCD7B50F5AD69B6B931E85E32E6E1BEE9855E1CE B7537CEAA0C89170A6AB4065F6F040E15E66CEA2

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Conclusion

As a Linux user, your GPG keyring comprises a long list after importing the keys of the other users to your system. You can delete the unnecessary GPG keys by using the “gpg” command. The “–delete-key” option is added in the “gpg” command for deleting the public key, whereas the “–delete-secret-key” option assists in the secret or private key deletion. This write-up demonstrated how to delete GPG keys of single and multiple users. Moreover, the procedures of using “uid” and the “Key ID” for deleting the private and public keys are also provided.

How to Delete GPG Keys in Linux (2024)

FAQs

How do I delete a GPG key in terminal? ›

You can delete the unnecessary GPG keys by using the “gpg” command. The “–delete-key” option is added in the “gpg” command for deleting the public key, whereas the “–delete-secret-key” option assists in the secret or private key deletion.

How do I remove GPG key from Git? ›

Deleting your GPG Key

You can delete your key via terminal with the command gpg --delete-secret-keys simply append your username or key ID.

Can I delete GPG? ›

If you are no longer communicating with someone, you can delete the copy of their GnuPG key on your computer using Passwords and Keys. You can also permanently delete a key you own as long it has never been published on a key server. Deleting a GnuPG key deletes both the public key and the secret key.

How to delete GPG keys Ubuntu? ›

gpg: use option “–delete-secret-keys” to delete it first. This means that if you have private key of a public key then you need to delete the private key first. Hope this helps.

How to delete keys in Linux? ›

Delete SSH Key
  1. SSH to your server.
  2. Edit ~/. ssh/authorized_keys.
  3. Remove the line containing your key.
  4. Save and exit.
Oct 6, 2020

How to delete SSH keys? ›

Removing an SSH Public Key
  1. Connect to the compute node as the opc user. ...
  2. Start a root-user command shell: Copy. ...
  3. Delete the line containing the SSH public key that you want to remove from the authorized_keys files associated with the opc user ( /home/opc/. ...
  4. Exit the root-user command shell: Copy.

How do I remove a key from PGP? ›

Delete PGP Secret Key
  1. From the Administration menu, select Trading Partner > PGP > PGP Secret Key.
  2. Search the PGP Secret Key Name and click Go!. or. Next to List Alphabetically, click Go!.
  3. Click delete next to the key you want to delete.
  4. Click OK and click Delete on the confirm page. Note:

How to remove keys from git? ›

You will need to use the filter-branch command to remove an API key from a Git commit using git. This command allows you to rewrite Git history by filtering various commits. The tree-filter option specifies the filter to apply to the tree objects in the specified range of commits.

How do I delete a file in GPG? ›

To delete, just type gpg --delete-key <key-id> . You'll need --delete-secret-key first if your key-pair have both private and public key.

How do I list all GPG keys? ›

Check for existing GPG keys
  1. In a terminal, use this command to list GPG keys you have access to: gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG.
  2. Check the output to see if you have a GPG key pair.
  3. If there are no GPG key pairs, you'll need to generate a new GPG key.
Sep 23, 2022

How to remove GnuPG in Linux? ›

How to Uninstall gnupg in Linux with apt-get?
  1. Step 1: Open a terminal with 'su' access and enter the command as shown below.
  2. apt-get remove gnupg -y.
  3. Step 2: The command reads the package lists and proceeds with the uninstallation.

Do GPG keys expire? ›

PGP public keys can be used to encrypt files up to the day they expire. Once the key expires it can no longer be used to encrypt data. A private key will continue to decrypt data that was encrypted by that public key, even after the public key expires.

How to remove a key in Ubuntu? ›

First, open the /etc/apt/sources. list file and look for the repository entry. And simply remove the entry to delete the repository. After that, we can save and close the file.

Which command is used to delete the key? ›

Redis DEL command is used to delete the existing key in Redis.

Is there a delete command in Linux? ›

Use the rm command to remove files you no longer need. The rm command removes the entries for a specified file, group of files, or certain select files from a list within a directory.

Can I just delete SSH keys? ›

Under "SSH keys", take note of the SSH keys associated with your account. For those that you don't recognize, or that are out-of-date, click Delete.

Can I delete SSH files? ›

Sometimes you would need to remove a file or a folder from the system. To do so using SSH, you would need to execute the appropriate command – rm. This will match all files starting with 'myFile' and ending in '.

How to remove SSH in Linux? ›

Activate or deactivate the SSH server
  1. sudo rm -f /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run sudo systemctl enable ssh sudo systemctl start ssh.
  2. sudo mv /etc/init/ssh.conf.back /etc/init/ssh.conf sudo start ssh.
  3. sudo systemctl stop ssh sudo systemctl disable ssh.
  4. sudo stop ssh sudo mv /etc/init/ssh.conf /etc/init/ssh.conf.back.
Feb 3, 2022

How do I remove a private key from a certificate? ›

Removing a passphrase using OpenSSL
  1. Copy the private key file into your OpenSSL directory (or specify the path in the command below).
  2. Run this command: openssl rsa -in [original.key] -out [new.key]
  3. Enter the passphrase for the original key when asked.
  4. The output file [new. key] should now be unencrypted.

Where are PGP keys stored? ›

PGP stores the keys in two files on your hard disk; one for public keys and one for private keys. These files are called keyrings. As you use PGP, you will typically add the public keys of your recipients to your public keyring. Your private keys are stored on your private keyring.

What is the use of GPG key? ›

GPG uses public key encryption. You can use someone's public key to encrypt a message or document, in a way that only the owner of the corresponding private key will be able to decrypt. This is a great way to send somebody highly confidential data.

How to remove list of keys from HashMap? ›

To remove all values from HashMap, use the clear() method.

Where are SSH keys stored? ›

On Linux systems, the default location for SSH keys is in the user's personal directory in the file ~/. ssh/known_hosts. On Windows systems, the default file location is in the user's personal directory in the file C:\Users\username\. ssh\known_hosts.

How do you remove keys from objects? ›

There are three ways to remove key from object in JavaScript. We can remove a Property from a JavaScript Object using the delete Operator, Object Destructuring, and Reflect. deleteProperty() method. The delete operator and the Reflect.

How do I delete a file in Linux shell? ›

You can quickly and easily delete a single file with the command “rm” followed by the file name. With the command “rm” followed by a file name, you can easily delete single files in Linux.

How do I get my gpg private key? ›

To export a GPG private and public key to a file, execute the “gpg –export-secret-key -a <username> > prv. key” and “gpg –export -a <username> > pub. key” commands. Before it, users ensure that GPG keys have been generated that can be visualized through the “gpg –list-keys” command.

How do I delete specific files? ›

Right-click the file, and click Delete on the shortcut menu.

What are GPG keys in Linux? ›

GPG, or GNU Privacy Guard, is a public key cryptography implementation. This allows for the secure transmission of information between parties and can be used to verify that the origin of a message is genuine.

Where are my GPG keys located? ›

File %AppData%\gnupg\trustdb. gpg. Entire folder %AppData%\gnupg\private-keys-v1. d.

Where are my GPG keys? ›

Open Terminal . Use the gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format=long command to list the long form of the GPG keys for which you have both a public and private key. A private key is required for signing commits or tags.

How to remove Linux from hard drive? ›

To remove Linux from your computer and install Windows: Remove native, swap, and boot partitions used by Linux: Start your computer with the Linux setup floppy disk, type fdisk at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. NOTE: For help using the Fdisk tool, type m at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

How can I remove GPG key that I added using apt key add? ›

If the GPG key was added manually, then it is stored in the /etc/apt/trusted. gpg. d/ path with a . gpg extension and you can simply use the rm command to remove it.

Where are GPG keys stored in Ubuntu? ›

Your keys are stored in a directory called “. gnupg” in your home directory. This directory will also store the public keys of anyone that has sent encrypted files to you.

How do I change my GPG key? ›

Procedure for changing your GPG passphrase

Run gpg --edit-key your-key-id command. At the gpg> prompt enter the passwd to change the passphrase. First enter the urrent passphrase when prompted. Then type the new passphrase twice to confirm it.

What is the difference between GPG key and PGP key? ›

PGP stand for Pretty Good Privacy. GPG stands for GNU privacy Guard. Both of these programs are used to encrypt and decrypt data, messages, and emails. The difference between the two is that GPG is open-sourced where PGP is not.

Are GPG keys public? ›

GnuPG uses public-key cryptography so that users may communicate securely. In a public-key system, each user has a pair of keys consisting of a private key and a public key.

How do I disable a key in Linux? ›

Use xev to find the keycode of the 6 key on your keyboard, "on mine it is 15". Then use xmodmap -e "keycode 15 = " where 15 is the number you found with xev. This will map that key to nothing.

How do I remove a key array? ›

To remove a key and its respective value from an associative array in PHP you can use the unset() function. As the name of the function suggests, you use the unset() function to unset a given variable or in this case an array key with its value.

How to update GPG key in Ubuntu? ›

To change your passphrase:
  1. Enter: gpg --edit-key key-id.
  2. At the gpg prompt enter: passwd.
  3. Enter the current passphrase when prompted.
  4. Enter the new passphrase twice when prompted.
  5. Enter: save.

How do you remove a key without breaking it? ›

Always turn off your computer or laptop before working on your keyboard. Unplug the keyboard if you're able. If you don't have a keycap puller, you can use a flathead screwdriver, butter knife, or a bent paperclip. Slide the tool underneath the key and use light force to pry it off.

How do you remove keys without breaking them? ›

For desktop keyboards, take a butter knife or a screwdriver and try to pry up one corner of the keys. You don't need to use a lot of force; you should feel a pop and the key will come right off. For laptop keyboards, your fingernail should be enough to pull the plastic up.

What is the GPG key in Ubuntu? ›

In Ubuntu, users use the gpg command to keep data safe and protect their privacy. The gpg is an acronym for “GnuPrivacy Guard”. It encrypts your files securely so that only the specified receiver can decrypt those files. GPG is based on the concept of each user having two encryption keys.

How to remove key from SSH agent Ubuntu? ›

Another option in Ubuntu 14-16 is to use the gui 'Passwords and keys' (you can seach for ssh to find it) . Choose which eg OpenSS keys, then right click on the key and choose delete. You may need to restart your system to see it that it's removed.

How to remove wine key in Ubuntu? ›

  1. Press alt+Ctrl+t to open the terminal.
  2. Type in it sudo apt-get remove winehq-devel. ...
  3. Type y mean yes to remove it, in the removing in will download some files and a new windows will appear just click tab from your keyboard to click on ok and then yes.

How do I remove gpg keys from my Mac? ›

The gpg --list-keys shows you your public keys, your privet keys are shown using gpg --list-secret-keys . To remove a key you need to use the correct delete command for the type of key. gpg --delete-key [keyID] for a public key and gpg --delete-secret-key [keyID] for a private key.

How do I delete a file in gpg? ›

To delete, just type gpg --delete-key <key-id> . You'll need --delete-secret-key first if your key-pair have both private and public key.

How to delete in shell command line? ›

Deleting files (rm command)
  1. To delete the file named myfile, type the following: rm myfile.
  2. To delete all the files in the mydir directory, one by one, type the following: rm -i mydir/* After each file name displays, type y and press Enter to delete the file. Or to keep the file, just press Enter.

How to remove Gnupg in Linux? ›

How to Uninstall gnupg in Linux with apt-get?
  1. Step 1: Open a terminal with 'su' access and enter the command as shown below.
  2. apt-get remove gnupg -y.
  3. Step 2: The command reads the package lists and proceeds with the uninstallation.

How do I remove an existing SSH key from my Mac? ›

We pass the -R option to the ssh-keygen command to remove all keys belonging to the specified hostname (with optional port number) from a known_hosts file. This option is useful to delete hashed hosts. We have ~/.

Where is my private PGP key? ›

skr (private keyring) file in the default keyring location. For Windows this is in the Documents>PGP folder.

How do I delete my GPG UID? ›

You cannot remove all UIDs, but you can create one which does not link to your identity and remove all others. Backup your . gnupg folder (for unix systems, for Windows wherever your key is stored)! Every UID has a number (in parentheses).

What is the command for delete in Linux terminal? ›

Type "rm (filename)" in the Terminal to remove a file on Linux. To remove an entire folder (or directory) and all of its contents, type "rm -r (foldername)" into the Terminal instead.

How to delete a file in terminal? ›

The rm command is used to delete one or more files located in the current directory – this operation is permanent. For that reason, you may need to use rm with the -i flag so that you can be prompted for confirmation.

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