Enabling YubiKey NEO’s OpenPGP Applet: Step-by-Step Guide

In this post, we will take you through the steps to enable the YubiKey NEO’s OpenPGP applet on a production YubiKey NEO. YubiKey NEOs are currently shipped with an OpenPGP applet already installed but disabled. You will need to enable the Applet functionality of the YubiKey NEO before you can use the OpenPGP applet.

To do this, you will need to use the command line interface (CLI) version of the YubiKey Personalization Tool. If you are not familiar with using command line tools, this applet is probably not for you. To download ykpersonalize please click here.

Once you have installed the ykpersonalize software, insert your YubiKey NEO and you can check the version with the ykinfo -v command – which shows version: 3.0.1 for our YubiKey NEO. To enable your YubiKey NEO’s Smartcard interface (CCID), enter the command ykpersonalize -m82 as:

The -m option is the mode command. To see the different modes, enter ykpersonalize –help. Mode 82 (in hex) enables the YubiKey NEO as a composite USB device (HID + CCID) and allows OTPs to be emitted while in use as a smart card.  Once you have changed the mode, you need to re-boot the YubiKey – so remove and re-insert it.

Now our NEO App: OpenPGP is visible we can use the gpg program to set-up a new smart card: gpg –card-edit and then enter the admin command to enable admin commands. The command to create a new set of public/private key pairs is generate.  You should see something like:

Note the default PINs as you will need to enter them into the pop ups – e.g.:

Once you enter the Admin and User PINs, gpg will ask you for various settings. Once you select Okay the YubiKey NEO will work for between 1 minute and 3 minutes to generate 3 key pairs. It took our YubiKey NEO 1 minute 40 seconds.

WARNING: You cannot backup the secret keys – so if you lose the YubiKey NEO, re-generate another key pair or other lose the key pair there is no way to retrieve it! When you encrypt a file, make sure you have a plain text backup.

It is recommended to backup the Public key – we often use the Export Certificates to Server function in Kleopatra to do this. This is our screen:

The public keys and private key stubs are automatically loaded into the gpg database; we are running Kleopatra – so before completing, Kleopatra showed my soft keys:

And afterwards Kleopatra shows the YubiKey NEO with the SmartCard icon:

With details:

We can now select my YubiKey NEO to sign and encrypt files e.g.:

The source code for the YubiKey NEO OpenPGP app is available here.

Talk to our teamTalk to our team

Share this article:


  • Yubico’s commitment to innovation: Phishing-resistance as a cornerstone for cyber resilienceAs phishing attacks have reached an unprecedented level of frequency and sophistication, enterprises must prioritize authentication that is phishing-resistant – regardless of the business scenario, platform or device users are working with. This is why Yubico prioritizes consistent product innovations that deliver on our customer’s needs for modern, phishing-resistant authentication solutions that enable businesses to […]Read more
  • CEO Corner: Wrapping up a strong year, and looking ahead to 2025 and beyondIt’s no secret that 2024 was a big year of growth for Yubico, highlighted across many notable achievements by our team and increasing demand from our customers. As discussed in my previous post, following a transformative year driven by key cybersecurity trends like passkeys and AI, the year culminated in the significant step of Yubico […]Read moreCEOEarningsMattias Danielsson
  • The rise of AI-driven phishing attacks: What to know and how to be secureAs businesses continue learning the benefits that artificial intelligence (AI) assisted computing tools provide, we’re continuing to see rapid interest and adoption of the technology – especially within the enterprise. Most conversations up until recently have revolved around ChatGPT, but now another new AI-powered large language model tool – DeepSeek – is creating a lot […]Read more
  • Works with YubiKey Spotlight: Expanded partnerships redefining phishing-resistance in 20252024 was an exciting year for Yubico and our partners. Together, we achieved remarkable milestones, launching innovative solutions and forging stronger partnerships – all aimed at delivering the most impactful cybersecurity solutions and user experience for our customers and partners. At the heart of these efforts lies a shared commitment to phishing-resistance.  From registration to […]Read moreWorks with YubiKeywwyk