PGP Desktop 9.9.0 problems

[Georges Heinesch]

Hi.

I'm using PGP Desktop 9.9.0 and found 2 bugs.

1. When the Desktop window isn't open and I double-click a detached
signature file, the desktop window opens but the result of the signature
check is not displayed, hence I have to check it again with the open
Desktop window.

2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.

Can someone confirm both issues?

Is there any other Software I can use to bypass problem 2. ?

Thanks,

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

Post by Georges Heinesch
Hi.
I'm using PGP Desktop 9.9.0 and found 2 bugs.
1. When the Desktop window isn't open and I double-click a detached
signature file, the desktop window opens but the result of the signature
check is not displayed, hence I have to check it again with the open
Desktop window.
2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.
Can someone confirm both issues?
Is there any other Software I can use to bypass problem 2. ?
Thanks,
--
Georges Heinesch

I have just confirmed the first issue you mention.

I have not tried the second one yet.

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Georges Heinesch
2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.

Can someone please confirm this?

Is there no other possibility to create signatures than via the
Explorer's context menu? Perhaps this alternate method would succeed?!

Thanks,

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

Post by Georges Heinesch

Post by Georges Heinesch
2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.

Can someone please confirm this?
Is there no other possibility to create signatures than via the
Explorer's context menu? Perhaps this alternate method would succeed?!
Thanks,
--
Georges Heinesch

When you use the Explorer context menu to sign a file, it automatically
opens the PGP Zip Assistant to help you do the signing. However, you can
manually open the PGP Zip Assistant (Open PGP Desktop - New PGP Zip) and
from there you can sign single files, multiple files or entire directories
at once.

At this moment, I am using the PGP Zip Assistant to sign a 43GB file. It
appears to be working, albeit slowly. It has been working on the task for
10 minutes so far and it looks like it may take up to an hour to complete.
If it completes without any issues, I'll report back here.

Note: I am using PGP 9.9.

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA

Post by Georges Heinesch

Post by Georges Heinesch
2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.

Can someone please confirm this?
Is there no other possibility to create signatures than via the
Explorer's context menu? Perhaps this alternate method would succeed?!
Thanks,
--
Georges Heinesch

When you use the Explorer context menu to sign a file, it automatically
opens the PGP Zip Assistant to help you do the signing. However, you can
manually open the PGP Zip Assistant (Open PGP Desktop - New PGP Zip) and
from there you can sign single files, multiple files or entire directories
at once.
At this moment, I am using the PGP Zip Assistant to sign a 43GB file. It
appears to be working, albeit slowly. It has been working on the task for
10 minutes so far and it looks like it may take up to an hour to complete.
If it completes without any issues, I'll report back here.
Note: I am using PGP 9.9.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

OK, it seems that I was successful creating a signature for my 43GB file.
(It took over an hour to create.) The signature itself is small of course -
about 1KB in size.

I'm now in the process of confirming that the signature will verify
correctly. I expect it will since PGP seems to have no problem with the
format of the signature as it now works on the verification. For such a
large file, I expect this verification process will take over an hour.

Georges, you say that you cannot sign a file bigger than 4GB. Could this
have something to do with the format of the file system, either that of the
file system of the file you wish to sign or that of the file system where
PGP is installed?

The FAT32 filesystem can support files with a maximum size of 4GB. The NTFS
filesystem can support files as large as 16TB. (See
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc779002.aspx) I use NTFS for
all my disks.

If PGP builds a temporary file while it creates a signature file, perhaps
the file size limit imposed by the filesystem type is creating the problem?

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
it seems that I was successful creating a signature for my 43GB file.
(It took over an hour to create.) The signature itself is small of
course - about 1KB in size.

Thanks a lot for the test!

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
I'm now in the process of confirming that the signature will verify
correctly. I expect it will since PGP seems to have no problem
with the format of the signature as it now works on the
verification. For such a large file, I expect this verification
process will take over an hour.

It's gonna be fine. I'm sure. The problem on my side was never the
verification, only the signature generation.

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
Georges, you say that you cannot sign a file bigger than 4GB. Could
this have something to do with the format of the file system,
either that of the
file system of the file you wish to sign or that of the file system
where PGP is installed?

This would apply if I'd use FAT or FAT32. Correct (good idea). But I use
NTFS on WinXP Sp3. hence, this is not the problem. But programmers also
have to overcome some 4 GB limits. I saw this already in other software.
However, previous versions of PGP (I used 9.8.1 so far) didn't show this
restriction.

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
If PGP builds a temporary file while it creates a signature file,
perhaps the file size limit imposed by the filesystem type is
creating the problem?

Hmmm ... didn't think about that, but all my other visible partitions on
that system have +10 GB free disk space, so this should not cause this
error.

... later ...

After using the "New PGP Zip" method to sign (you mentioned in a
previous article), I noticed that the reason for the failed signature
was also "Unable to save (bad passphrase : -11500)...". I did the same
trick .. new folder ... and it failed (unlike the test with the
erroneous file in the previous article)!

What goes on here?

Regards,

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA

Post by Georges Heinesch

Post by Georges Heinesch
2. I can't sign and check signatures of file bigger than 4 GB.

Can someone please confirm this?
Is there no other possibility to create signatures than via the
Explorer's context menu? Perhaps this alternate method would succeed?!
Thanks,
--
Georges Heinesch

When you use the Explorer context menu to sign a file, it automatically
opens the PGP Zip Assistant to help you do the signing. However, you can
manually open the PGP Zip Assistant (Open PGP Desktop - New PGP Zip) and
from there you can sign single files, multiple files or entire directories
at once.
...

Thanks for the hint. Missed that one.

Testing the PGP Zip Assistant (Open PGP Desktop - New PGP Zip) ...

I tried to sign three 1.3 GB files individually. The first one worked,
the second produced the follwoing error: "Unable to save (bad passphrase
: -11500)...". The third one worked again.

I dragged the two previously working files together into the window and
signed. It worked. I dragged all three (including the one which didn't
work before) and it failed again as expected.

I tried all this a few times to reproduce the error.

What can produce this error?
(the passphrase to sign was of course correct)

Regards,

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Georges Heinesch
...
Testing the PGP Zip Assistant (Open PGP Desktop - New PGP Zip) ...
I tried to sign three 1.3 GB files individually. The first one worked,
the second produced the follwoing error: "Unable to save (bad passphrase
: -11500)...". The third one worked again.

I made some more tests only with this file (called badsigfile.avi) which
created the error.

I created a subdirectory inside the one where badsigfile.avi resides.

./badsigfile.avi
./newfolder/badsigfile.avi

As mentioned, the ./badsigfile.avi signature failed (with New PGP Zip
and the Explorer's context menu method). However when I signed
./newfolder/badsigfile.avi, the signature worked.

How come ?!?!

No clue what's going on here. never had this in previous PGP versions.

I use NTFS on WinXP SP3.

Regards.

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

"Georges Heinesch" <***@nospam.invalid> wrote in message news:***@vo.lu...
[...snip...]

Post by Georges Heinesch
No clue what's going on here. never had this in previous PGP versions.
I use NTFS on WinXP SP3.
Regards.
--
Georges Heinesch

Yes, what you're experiencing is baffling. It's hard to even guess at the
cause. Could it be a bug in the latest version of PGP? Perhaps. But a
computer is a symphony of many pieces of software that are all "playing"
together. Sometimes the real source of a problem can be something we would
never expect (such as a .dll that has been replaced by the installation of
some other piece of software).

I guess if I were you, I would uninstall PGP, make sure that all PGP folders
have been removed, and then reinstall. There is no logic to my suggestion,
other than I've had more than one piece of malfunctioning software suddenly
start working correctly again after I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. If
you do this, be sure to have your license on hand, if you have one.

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
[...snip...]

Post by Georges Heinesch
No clue what's going on here. never had this in previous PGP versions.
I use NTFS on WinXP SP3.

Yes, what you're experiencing is baffling. It's hard to even guess at the
cause. Could it be a bug in the latest version of PGP? Perhaps. But a
computer is a symphony of many pieces of software that are all "playing"
together. Sometimes the real source of a problem can be something we would
never expect (such as a .dll that has been replaced by the installation of
some other piece of software).
I guess if I were you, I would uninstall PGP, make sure that all PGP folders
have been removed, and then reinstall. There is no logic to my suggestion,
other than I've had more than one piece of malfunctioning software suddenly
start working correctly again after I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. If
you do this, be sure to have your license on hand, if you have one.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

Thanks for your suggestions and I fully agree. I also had in the past
very weird problems with sometimes solutions which made no sense, but
they worked against all logic.

However, while playing around with PGP yesterday, I discovered that when
I select the option "Save my current password fir the current Windows
session only", everything works!

1. The "PGP desktop - Verification History" window opens when verifying
a signature while it was closed.

2. I can sign via Explorer's context menu and "New PGP Zip" files, even
+4 GB files.

3. The "Unable to save (bad passphrase : -11500)..." message is history!

Now ... why would this be?

What was your setting regarding password saving when you did the tests
described in this thread?

Thanks,

Regards,

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

Post by Georges Heinesch

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
[...snip...]

Post by Georges Heinesch
No clue what's going on here. never had this in previous PGP versions.
I use NTFS on WinXP SP3.

Yes, what you're experiencing is baffling. It's hard to even guess at the
cause. Could it be a bug in the latest version of PGP? Perhaps. But a
computer is a symphony of many pieces of software that are all "playing"
together. Sometimes the real source of a problem can be something we would
never expect (such as a .dll that has been replaced by the installation of
some other piece of software).
I guess if I were you, I would uninstall PGP, make sure that all PGP folders
have been removed, and then reinstall. There is no logic to my suggestion,
other than I've had more than one piece of malfunctioning software suddenly
start working correctly again after I uninstalled it and reinstalled it.
If
you do this, be sure to have your license on hand, if you have one.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

Thanks for your suggestions and I fully agree. I also had in the past
very weird problems with sometimes solutions which made no sense, but
they worked against all logic.
However, while playing around with PGP yesterday, I discovered that when
I select the option "Save my current password fir the current Windows
session only", everything works!
1. The "PGP desktop - Verification History" window opens when verifying
a signature while it was closed.
2. I can sign via Explorer's context menu and "New PGP Zip" files, even
+4 GB files.
3. The "Unable to save (bad passphrase : -11500)..." message is history!
Now ... why would this be?
What was your setting regarding password saving when you did the tests
described in this thread?
Thanks,
Regards,
--
Georges Heinesch

Yes, Georges. My setting is indeed set to "Save my passphrase for the
current Windows session only."

You would think that if your password had "expired" from cache, or was never
saved in cache, that PGP would have prompted you for the password rather
than giving you error messages.

Curious.

I'm glad things are working for you now.

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
...
Yes, Georges. My setting is indeed set to "Save my passphrase for the
current Windows session only."
You would think that if your password had "expired" from cache, or was never
saved in cache, that PGP would have prompted you for the password rather
than giving you error messages.
Curious.
I'm glad things are working for you now.

Could you do me a last favor and test whether PGP behaves similarly on
your system when you set password saving, let's say, to 1 minute.

Thanks,

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
...
Yes, Georges. My setting is indeed set to "Save my passphrase for the
current Windows session only."
You would think that if your password had "expired" from cache, or was never
saved in cache, that PGP would have prompted you for the password rather
than giving you error messages.
Curious.
I'm glad things are working for you now.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

To mee, it looks like the password is saved at the end of the process
(whatever it is - signature generation, signature checking, encryption,
decryption, ...). This is not logical and it was never like that in
previous PGP versions. I always had it set to 2 minutes and this was
never a problem.

Could you do me a last favor and test whether PGP behaves similarly on
your system when you set password saving, let's say, to 1 minute.

Thanks,

[Neil - Salem, MA USA]

Post by Georges Heinesch

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
...
Yes, Georges. My setting is indeed set to "Save my passphrase for the
current Windows session only."
You would think that if your password had "expired" from cache, or was never
saved in cache, that PGP would have prompted you for the password rather
than giving you error messages.
Curious.
I'm glad things are working for you now.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

To mee, it looks like the password is saved at the end of the process
(whatever it is - signature generation, signature checking, encryption,
decryption, ...). This is not logical and it was never like that in
previous PGP versions. I always had it set to 2 minutes and this was
never a problem.
Could you do me a last favor and test whether PGP behaves similarly on
your system when you set password saving, let's say, to 1 minute.
Thanks,
--
Georges Heinesch

Well, Georges, you are right!

I set my Passphrase cache time to two minutes, made sure that I signed a
small file (to put my Passphrase in cache), and then began to sign a 1GB
file. At the beginning of the process the New PGP Zip wizard said that my
Passphrase for my private key was cached and allowed me to proceed. It took
longer than two minutes for PGP to scan my 1GB file during which time my
Passphrase apparently expired. Sure enough, at the end of the process I got
the same error message you have been seeing: "Unable to save (bad
passphrase: -11500)...".

I think this qualifies as being called at least a "problem" or (better
perhaps) a "bug". I vote to call it a bug for this reason. Though I have
set my Passphrase cache time to two minutes, the Passphrase will remain in
cache all day long as long as I am signing files every two minutes or less.
When I am signing a large file, like the 1GB file I used in my experiment,
PGP should recognize that I am using the private key and its associated
Passphrase throughout the entire process. It should not let the Passphrase
expire out of cache simply because the signing process time is greater than
my Passphrase cache time.

Very good, Georges. I suggest you report this to PGP Corp.

Neil - Salem, MA USA

[Georges Heinesch]

Post by Neil - Salem, MA USA
...
Very good, Georges. I suggest you report this to PGP Corp.
Neil - Salem, MA USA

Thanks for the confirmations and the tests !!!

Sometimes it's only one isolated system which behaves strange due to
some other software interference, but in this case, we found something.

Bug is submitted.

Regards,