# Participation key docs need updated

**URL:** <https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [April 18, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546 "2020-04-18T03:27:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aojjazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@aojjazz](https://forum.algorand.co/u/aojjazz)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/1 "2020-04-18T03:27:22Z")

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The docs at [https://developer.algorand.org/docs/run-a-node/participate/renew/](https://developer.algorand.org/docs/run-a-node/participate/renew/)  
need updated. As I understand it, the new goal renewpartkey takes care of a lot of this.  
I assume it will just create a new participation key for the current round through the specified last valid round.

However, the docs state to ‘delete the old participation key’ yet there is no command to delete the key. Shouldn’t there be? It seems iffy to remove the .partkey file while the node is up. Are we supposed to stop the node and just manually delete the file?

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**Author:** ![fabrice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@fabrice](https://forum.algorand.co/u/fabrice)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/2 "2020-04-21T16:06:30Z")

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Thank you for the feedback!

Participation keys are stored as `$ALGORAND_DATA/<network>/<address>.<firstround>.<lastround>.partkey`

`goal account renewpartkey` can be used when the secret key of the account is stored on the machine (e.g., when the account was created via `goal account new` on the same machine). However, doing this is not recommended except for testing purposes or very small stakes.

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**Author:** ![aojjazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@aojjazz](https://forum.algorand.co/u/aojjazz)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/3 "2020-04-21T17:58:01Z")

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So we just remove the .partkey file once it’s no longer within the valid block range? Does the node need stopped before its removed?

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**Author:** ![Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Tim](https://forum.algorand.co/u/Tim)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:00pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/4 "2020-04-21T20:00:23Z")

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It doesn’t need to be stopped before it’s removed, but it does need to be restarted after it has been removed to clear it from memory.

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**Author:** ![aojjazz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@aojjazz](https://forum.algorand.co/u/aojjazz)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/5 "2020-04-21T20:40:44Z")

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Great, thanks!  
The docs still need updated. 😉

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**Author:** ![liz](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.algorand.co/liz/32/40_2.png) [@liz](https://forum.algorand.co/u/liz)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://forum.algorand.co/t/participation-key-docs-need-updated/1546/6 "2020-04-27T20:37:16Z")

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Thanks for your feedback. The docs have been updated.