Generating an SSH Key Pair on Windows Using PuTTYgen

Overview¶

This article explains how to generate an SSH public/private key pair on a Windows machine by using the PuTTYgen application, which is installed with PuTTY.

Procedure¶

1. If necessary, download and install PuTTY from putty.org

2. Run PuTTYgen and click the "Generate" button.

PuTTYgen - Generate Button

3. Move your mouse over the blank area as instructed.

PuTTYgen - Generating Randomness

4. Enter your name in the Key Comment field. Optionally specify a Key Passphrase.

PuTTYgen - Key Comment and Key Passphrase Fields

5. Click the "Save Private Key" button to save PPK file. (You will use this when you make an SSH connection to the server.)

PuTTYgen - Save Private Key button

VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT SHARE YOUR PRIVATE KEY WITH ANYONE! DO NOT EMAIL IT! DO NOT POST IT ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET!

6. Right-click the "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" field and click "Select All" from the context menu.

PuTTYgen - Public Key > Select All

7. Copy and paste the text into a text file.

8. Save the file using the naming convention "FirstName_LastName.pub"

Follow-Up¶

The public key will need to be uploaded to the server via this procedure.