[Encase]

Thanks for the clarification, though I'm a tiny bit confused.

Using my passphrase, I can successfully generate a sha256 and then import my bitcoin client, which then provides the same bitcoin public address as shown on my profile (I left it as the default on profile creation).

This shows that I have calculated the hash on the correct passphrase (no errors). However when importing the same key into namecoin-qt I'm getting "Invalid private key (code -5)".

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong, the key should be able to be imported into both -qt clients right? One for the ownership of the bitcoin address and the other for ownership and management of the u/name. I'm determined to get my head around this

Edit:

Ok it looks like Armory will happily accept the 64 long private key, but namecoin-qt seems to prefer the 51 long keys. Perhaps in 'wallet import format'. No error anymore, still trying to determine if its worked though.

[rxl]

Yes, when importing the private key into Namecoin-Qt, it needs to be in wallet import format. Make sure it's a Namecoin WIF, though. You might find this library helpful: https://github.com/halfmoonlabs/coinkit.