How to Generate Enough ‘Entropy’ For GPG Key Generation Process

The other I was trying to generate GPG key. But It took really a long time. I was running out of time and my patience. The GPG isn’t generated even after I waited for almost an hour. I am not aware of GPG key generation process, and I have never created one before. So I dig a little in Google and found out that I need to generate enough Entropy for GPG key generation process. If you are ever been in this situation, read on. It was not that difficult.

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Generate Enough ‘Entropy’ For GPG Key Generation Process

I entered the following command to create a GPG key:

gpg --gen-key

And, I got this message:

[...]
We need to generate a lot of random bytes. It is a good idea to perform
some other action (type on the keyboard, move the mouse, utilize the
disks) during the prime generation; this gives the random number
generator a better chance to gain enough entropy.
gpg: agent_genkey failed: No pinentry
Key generation failed: No pinentry

As you in the above command, it shows there is “no Pinentry” package.

Make sure you have installed pinentry-gtk or pinentry-qt packages.

To install this package on Arch based systems, run:

sudo pacman -S pinentry

On RPM based systems:

sudo yum install pinentry

On DEB based systems:

sudo apt-get install pinentry

Then, create or edit gpg-agent.conf file:

sudo nano ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

And add one of the following lines:

pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-curses

Or,

pinentry-program /usr/bin/pinentry-qt

Save and close the file. Reboot your system to apply the changes.

Now, let us create GPG key:

gpg --gen-key

Here is where I got struck for hours. I ran this command and waited for an hour. It says I don’t have sufficient Entropy and didn’t create the key.

To create enough entropy we need to install a package called “rng-tools” .

On Arch linux and its derivatives, run:

sudo pacman -S rng-tools

On RHEL and its derivatives, run:

sudo yum install epel-release sudo yum install rng-tools

On Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives, run:

sudo apt-get install rng-tools

In case the above package is not available, try to install “rng-utils” instead.

After you installed this utility, run the following command to gain enough Entropy:

sudo rngd -r /dev/urandom

Repeat the above command until you got enough Entropy to create a GPG key.

Let us check the amount of bytes of entropy currently available using command:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail Sample output:

Now, try to create GPG key again. This time the GPG key generation process will be much faster.

gpg --gen-key

Enter your name and mail ID and press enter.

Enter your passphrase:

Re-enter passphrase:

Success! The GPG key has been created.

That’s all for now. If you find this guide helpful, please share it on your social networks and support us.

Cheers!