Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Thunderbird 78 external smart card not working (GPGME)

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Kai Engert

mathias.muehlbacher
mathias.muehlbacher
more options

Hello everyone,

I have installed the current Thunderbird 78.2.1 and followed the manual (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP:Smartcards) for enabling my external smart card. Unfortunately this does not work.

I have added my public key to the Thunderbird key store and granted it full trust. I am using Gpg4Win with Kleopatra. There I have created my primary key and different subkeys. The primary key for certifying other signatures resides on my computer while the other three (encryption, authentication & signing) resides on my smart card.

According to the manual I have added the primary key ID to Thunderbird.

Problems: I can encrypt draft email but I can't decrypt them. I cannot send myself encrypted and signed emails. Thunderbird does not even ask myself for entering a PIN to unlock my smart card.


Anyone else having similar issues?


Thanks & best regards, Mathias

Hello everyone, I have installed the current Thunderbird 78.2.1 and followed the manual (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:OpenPGP:Smartcards) for enabling my external smart card. Unfortunately this does not work. I have added my public key to the Thunderbird key store and granted it full trust. I am using Gpg4Win with Kleopatra. There I have created my primary key and different subkeys. The primary key for certifying other signatures resides on my computer while the other three (encryption, authentication & signing) resides on my smart card. According to the manual I have added the primary key ID to Thunderbird. Problems: I can encrypt draft email but I can't decrypt them. I cannot send myself encrypted and signed emails. Thunderbird does not even ask myself for entering a PIN to unlock my smart card. Anyone else having similar issues? Thanks & best regards, Mathias

Modified by Wayne Mery

All Replies (1)

Kai Engert
Kai Engert
more options

If you're using the external gnupg configuration, then please check that Thunderbird can load GPGME. The Thunderbird error console should show a success message mentioning gpgme if it can.

Are you using a 64 bit version of Thunderbird? It's currently know that it doesn't work, because a 64-bit version of the GPGME DLL is required, which is not yet available.

https://admin.hostpoint.ch/pipermail/enigmail-users_enigmail.net/2020-August/005731.html

If that's your issue, you could try to temporarily use the 32 bit version of Thunderbird on Windows until the issue has been resolved.

Kai