# Invalid project configuration: raw private key is not valid

**URL:** <https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211>\
**Category:** Users Troubleshooting\
**Created:** [March 6, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211 "2021-03-06T23:00:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![slowell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@slowell](https://forum.flow.com/u/slowell)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/1 "2021-03-06T23:00:41Z")

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Keep getting this response when trying to use the private key generated via “flow keys generate” and using the emulator account. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for the help!

“emulator-account”: {  
“address”: “f8d6e0586b0a20c7”,  
“privateKey”: “PRIVATE\_KEY”,  
“chain”: “flow-emulator”,  
“sigAlgorithm”: “ECDSA\_P256”,  
“hashAlgorithm”: “SHA3\_256”  
}

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**Author:** ![JapaneseCatGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JapaneseCatGuy](https://forum.flow.com/u/JapaneseCatGuy)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:23am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/2 "2021-03-07T07:23:33Z")

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having the same issue trying to run a transaction locally using the flow-emulator

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**Author:** ![SteveW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@SteveW](https://forum.flow.com/u/SteveW)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 8:20am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/3 "2021-03-07T08:20:51Z")

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I found going `flow init` first and manually starting the server and then manually creating the rest of the flow.json file worked and then I did not get the error when creating accounts with `flow accounts create`

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**Author:** ![johnrobmiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a4c791/32.png) [@johnrobmiller](https://forum.flow.com/u/johnrobmiller)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/4 "2021-03-13T00:53:20Z")

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This solution did not work for me, but then again, I was using the Flow emulator.

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**Author:** ![flowjosh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.flow.com/flowjosh/32/362_2.png) [@flowjosh](https://forum.flow.com/u/flowjosh)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/5 "2021-03-22T18:55:56Z")

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@sideninja Do you know what might be going wrong here?

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**Author:** ![sideninja](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.flow.com/sideninja/32/363_2.png) [@sideninja](https://forum.flow.com/u/sideninja)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/invalid-project-configuration-raw-private-key-is-not-valid/1211/6 "2021-03-23T08:48:37Z")

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Try updating the CLI to the latest version and then using `flow init`.