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From launchpad I have an email containing OpenPGP encrypted key. I received that email in gmail. But gmail wont decrypt it. Then I setup Thunderbird for gmail account and installed Enigmail for decrypting pgp key. All works fine, but when trying to open that specific message it pops up with a message

you need a passphrase to unlock the secret key for user

and give a password field to enter. But my root password or mail password anything won't work there and I am not clear about this passphrase.
However, what can I do now?

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  • Do you remember a passphrase being set on the private key at the time you generated it? Run gpg --list-secret-keys in the terminal (as regular user) to list your private keys. Try to remember the passphrase you put on it.
    – gertvdijk
    May 28, 2013 at 13:27

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If the E-Mail was send to you it was encrypted with your public key and can only be unlocked using your private key. You have to enter the passphrase you choose when creating the key pair.

If it is not encrypted with your key, the sender got it wrong or it was not meant for you in the first place. You'll have no way to decrypt it without the matching private key and it's passphrase.

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