Two Methods to Generate SSH Keys in Windows Easily

SSH keys are secure credentials used to protect file transfers and computer connections. SSH keys are more reliable than SSH protocols that use usernames and passwords. This article will guide you how to generate an SSH key in a few steps in Windows system.

SSH (Security Shell) is a remote management protocol that establishes secure connection channels with another computer. Through this protocol, all communication and file transfers between you and the remote server will be encrypted. Both Windows 11 and Windows 10 have an OpenSSH client built in, allowing you to generate SSH keys without third-party software.

You can follow these steps to enable the OpenSSH client in Windows settings:

Step 1: Press Win I to open Windows settings.

Step 2: Enter "Optional Features" in the search bar, and then select "Add Optional Features" in the results list.

Step 3: You can check the "Installed Features" list to see if the OpenSSH client is installed. If not, click "Add Features" to search and install.

Method 1: Use Windows command prompt to generate an SSH key

Once the OpenSSH client feature is enabled on Windows, you can follow the following guide to create an SSH key using the command prompt.

Step 1: Press Win R to open the run window.

Step 2: Enter cmd in the text box and press Shift Ctrl Enter to run the command prompt as administrator.

Step 3: Enter ssh-keygen and press Enter . It will automatically generate the RSA SSH key.

If you want to generate an Ed25519 SSH key, you should change the command line to ssh-keygen -t ed25519 and press Enter .

Step 4: You will be prompted to enter the file path to save the key. Thanks to the default location provided, you can choose to use this location and press Enter , or you can change the path according to your needs.

Step 5: Then, you can set the password phrase. The SSH password phrase is used to protect your private key from copying your private key by people who have access to your computer. So while this is an optional step, we recommend that you set your password phrase. If you really don't need a password phrase, just press Enter to complete the process.

The key fingerprint can be used to confirm its authenticity when it is first connected to a remote server. Now the SSH key has been generated. You can find two keys at that location: a private key and a public key. A file with the extension .pub is a public key.

The public key is used to authorize authentication when you upload the server, which you can share with others to grant them permissions, while the private key should be kept by yourself only.

Method 2: Use WSL to generate SSH key

If you are a WSL user, the steps to generate an SSH key are similar to the above method. However, you need to initially specify which SSH key to create. The following are the detailed steps.

Step 1: Start the WSL terminal on your computer.

Step 2: Type different commands to create different types of keys.

• For RSA-4096 keys, you should type ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 and press Enter .
• For the Ed25519 key, you need to enter ssh-keygen -t ed25519 and press Enter .

It is recommended that you add your email address to distinguish which account the key belongs to. For example, the command line should be ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]" or ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]" .

Step 3: Set the save location or use the default location and press Enter .

Step 4: Set password phrase or press Enter to skip this step.

Now you have successfully generated the SSH key.

Summarize

Generating SSH keys in Windows using the above method is simple and convenient. After reading this article, you should learn detailed steps on how to generate RSA and Ed25519 keys.

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