First, check whether your organization has guidelines for using GnuPG Desktop. Your data protection officer, security officer, or another responsible person can provide information. There may already be an existing key management infrastructure that makes working with GnuPG Desktop easier.

• Administrators and decision-makers can find relevant information here: First Steps for GnuPG (VS-)Desktop Administrators and Managers

If you're not yet familiar with the principles of public-key cryptography, take a moment to learn about them. Here are some helpful resources:

• (German) Video: How does email encryption with PGP work? (Vimeo)
• Public-Key Cryptography (Wikipedia)

Open GnuPG Desktop – Kleopatra and navigate to the Help menu. There, you'll find comprehensive guides on how to use GnuPG Desktop. If you run into any issues, check out our FAQ for GnuPG VS-Desktop Users.

If GnuPG Desktop is not yet installed on your computer and this is not managed by your central IT, follow these steps:

1. Download GnuPG Desktop using the provided download link.
2. If another GnuPG-based encryption tool is already installed, such as Gpg4win, uninstall it to prevent conflicts.
3. Install GnuPG Desktop using the installer. Administrative privileges are required. Ensure that the Windows Installer does not show any warnings or errors during verification and installation. Additional verification options for the download can be found here.