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I'm trying to store some Eth I have in Parity into cold storage. Since I have no guarantee that Parity will continue being supported several years/decades in the future, or that the seed passphrase and/or key encryption algorithms won't change, I want my cold storage backup to also include my account's unencrypted private key, so that I can load that into any Ethereum wallet being used at the time and have access to my funds, without having to rely on potentially obsolete software.

Looking for this functionality in Parity, all I could find so far is the Export feature, which doesn't seem to include any keys, encrypted or otherwise, and the keystore located at \AppData\Roaming\Parity\Ethereum\keys\ethereum, which is encrypted from what I understand. How do I get my private key decrypted?

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It's actually a feature not to expose unencrypted keys. People would use it for simple backups without understanding the implications.

Just use ethkey generate random from your command line which is included with Parity:

secret:  42821fbb3b5110b0a5642313105dc9d7e521700ae26b702e10c248afa8486d0e
public:  cd455f9f4083b481f37fb96160505c77cb4f5cfe7759f29badf14489c35d44d62c2c9c6042aab23b2355fed36e632e652df8833ce5687a11b961af9495cb0355
address: d7ff0af0315c46e9ffb45513a5d69ab486754df7

And put it on ice. :)

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    Thanks! I like this solution better as it requires only Parity, even if I'll have to move my funds over to a newly-created address. But regarding the implications of exposing the private key, isn't that the same level of danger as the seed phrase? Why is one kept out of reach from the average user when the other can compromise security just as easily?
    – PM4
    Commented Aug 10, 2017 at 13:50
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An easy way (tested) is to use MyEtherWallet. You can download MEW and run it offline to ensure everything is secure; probably best if moving private keys around in the clear. If online, please triple check you are at the right site and not a phisher. Look for the EV-SSL certification to be sure:

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Go to the "View Wallet Info" tab. Select the top radio button and point MEW at your Parity Keystore file at the location you mention:

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Enter your Keystore passphrase, and unlock your wallet. You can click on the little "eye" icon on the right to see and copy your private key.

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