Accessing your server using a key adds to your efforts of server security. With an SSH key, you are not required to SSH into your server; hence, it offers enhanced security for your servers. With this, you can even change the default port to any of your choice and still access it normally.
Using the PuTTY SSH client, users can easily generate an SSH key on Windows machines. You can generate an SSH key on Windows using the PuTTY SSH client. You can download PuTTY for free from any external site.
To generate a key using PuTTY, users must follow the below steps:
- Download and install PuTTY from the official website.
- Open PuTTYgen from the installed package.
- Select RSA as the key type and set the key size to 2048 bits.
- Click Generate and move your mouse to add randomness.
- Save the private key to your computer.
- Copy or save the public key displayed in PuTTYgen.
- Add the public key to the server’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
- Open PuTTY, enter the server’s IP, and go to Connection > SSH > Auth.
- Browse and select your private key file.
- Click Open to connect using your SSH key.
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How to generate an SSH key on Windows using PuTTY ?
Accessing your server using a key adds to your efforts of server security. With an SSH key, you are not required to SSH into your server, hence it offers an enhaced security for your servers. With this you can even change the default port to any of your choice and still access it normally.
Using the PuTTY SSH client, users can easily generate an SSH key on Windows machines.
You can generate an SSH key on Windows using the PuTTY SSH client. You can download PuTTY for free from any external site.
Inorder to generate a key using PuTTY, users must follow the below steps :
Step I – You must first download and start the puttygen.exe generator.
Step II – You must now select SSH2 DSA and hit the Generate option. You can find the SSH2 DSA option in the section named “Parameters“.
Step III – You can opt for moving the mouse pointer in random within the small screen and generate the key pairs.
Step IV – For identifying the key, you would be prompted to enter a key comment. This is usually helpful when you have multiple SSH keys active on a server.
Step V – You are required to enter the passphrase and confirm it. This passphrase would hereafter take care of protecting your key. Whenever you get connected via. SSH, you will require this unique key.
Step VI – Hit the “Save private key” for saving your private key.
Step VII – Then, hit the “Save public key“. This would save your public key.