"No secret key" error when signing git commit on Windows

user_11102663 0
Viewed 8425

I'm getting this error when trying to sign a commit:

git commit -S -m "test"
gpg: skipped "EF617ACA9EC3XXXX": No secret key
gpg: signing failed: No secret key
error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object

This is the output of gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

The key is present there

sec   rsa4096/EF617ACA9EC3XXXX 2020-05-17 [SC] [expires: 2022-05-17]
      AD68154000A712DCD161D826EF617ACA9EC3XXXX
uid                 [ultimate] name <email@gmail.com>

And this is git config with the same key

user.signingkey=EF617ACA9EC3XXXX
user.email=email@gmail.com

Any idea what's wrong?

gnupg windows git
5 Answers

git config --global gpg.program "c:/Program Files (x86)/GnuPG/bin/gpg.exe"

I installed with Kleopatra and generated my key within that. I was unable to create a commit until I ran the command above.

user_25591260

Check first the git config gpg.program to see if this is gpg or gpg2 (as in here).

And type where gpg nd where gpg2 to check which path is considered for the GPG program.

I suggested to set gpg.program to gpg2, and copy your gpg.exe (assuming its version is a 2.x) to gpg2.exe

That should force Git/GPG to act as gpg2.

VonC_63090

Was facing the same issue in windows 10 git bash. Doing this solved my problem. You could find this path by running where gpg

$ git config --global gpg.program "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\gpg.exe"

user_120755970

In case anyone is a dufus like me I was getting this error because I had the gitkey wrong while directly editing the file via: git config --global -e or code ~/.gitconfig or whatever flavor of editor you enjoy.

  • singingkey instead of
  • signingkey ‍♂️
user_3496590

Another potential issue/resolution:

Make sure the email you set in Github is verified and that it exactly matches the email you used when you generated your GPG key.

user_89978820
Related