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openPGP "no suitable subkey found for encrypt"

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by Kai Engert

LordEvron
LordEvron
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I am trying to send encrypted emails. I added the public key of the recipient in openPGP key manager and set them Trusted.

From "write message" windows, if i click on security--> view security infos, it shows the status ok for the receipient.

However, when i click sent button, it fails. The error console is logging "no suitable subkey found for encrypt", however as you can see from the screen shots, the encryption subkey is there.

If i sent signed emails (with my private key) or unencrypted emails, Thunderbird works fine. Also encrypting files externally with Kleopatra (using the same public keys) also works fine.

I am using Thunderbird v 91.5.0 64-bit on Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon and kernel version 5.13.0.27.

Any help is appreciated.

I am trying to send encrypted emails. I added the public key of the recipient in openPGP key manager and set them Trusted. From "write message" windows, if i click on security--> view security infos, it shows the status ok for the receipient. However, when i click sent button, it fails. The error console is logging "no suitable subkey found for encrypt", however as you can see from the screen shots, the encryption subkey is there. If i sent signed emails (with my private key) or unencrypted emails, Thunderbird works fine. Also encrypting files externally with Kleopatra (using the same public keys) also works fine. I am using Thunderbird v 91.5.0 64-bit on Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon and kernel version 5.13.0.27. Any help is appreciated.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

Actually i solved thank to KaiE help... This behavior happens when you use External GnuPG and subkeys.

The problem was that when i added the GPG key ID to my account, I did not add the Primary key, but the ID of a subkey. Apparently that made the encryption process fails (also for my other contacts).

Changing the ID of the key associated with my profile with the ID of the primary Key, fixed the problem.

Thanks anyway

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All Replies (3)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Open the OpenPGP Key Manager and check whether the encryption subkey of any of recipients keys has expired. That also includes your own key.

LordEvron
LordEvron Question owner
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Chosen Solution

Actually i solved thank to KaiE help... This behavior happens when you use External GnuPG and subkeys.

The problem was that when i added the GPG key ID to my account, I did not add the Primary key, but the ID of a subkey. Apparently that made the encryption process fails (also for my other contacts).

Changing the ID of the key associated with my profile with the ID of the primary Key, fixed the problem.

Thanks anyway

Kai Engert
Kai Engert
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Let's try to make this misconfiguration easier to notice: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1752010