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SSH

Create private key

To create a private/public key pair, execute following command in a Terminal:

$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519

If you have connection problems, try with this command instead:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -m PEM

Then update/save the public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the Git/SSH server.

Converting an existing private key to PEM-format

If you have a private key file with an unsupported format, use this command in a Terminal to convert it:

$ ssh-keygen -f <private_key_file> -p -m PEM

It will prompt for the old passphrase once (if any) and for the new passphrase twice.

Windows 10: Configure OpenSSH Client

  • ensure the optional Windows feature OpenSSH Client is installed
  • ensure the service OpenSSH Authentication Agent has at least the manual startup type (by default: disabled)
  • start the service, e.g. by invoking ssh-agent (if you get the output unable to start ssh-agent service, error :1058, the service most likely is in disabled state).
  • tell the SSH agent about your private key file:

$ ssh-add <path-to-private-key-file>

  • if you are using the Git bundled with SmartGit (which contains an SSH executable) or Git for Windows installed without the option Use external OpenSSH, you will have to tell Git to use the Windows 10 SSH client:
    • set the environment variable GIT_SSH to C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe
    • if SmartGit is already started, restart it so it picks up the environment variable change
  • on the SmartGit preferences page Authentication select the option Use system SSH client.

Windows: Configure PuTTY and Pageant

Create your public/private key pair

Use PuTTY Key Generator (puttygen.exe) to create a new public/private key pair and save to a location of your choice. Usually the private key file ends with .ppk. It is recommended to use strong passphrase.

Tell you SSH server your public key

Copy/paste the long text (actually a long single line) from the large “Public key” input field in PuTTY Key Generator to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file of your SSH server or paste to the appropriate input field of your Git/SSH hosting provider.

Set the environment variable GIT_SSH to point to plink.exe.

Start Pageant

Start Pageant (pageant.exe) which only will show a small icon in the system tray. Double click that and add your private key file(s) - those created in the previous step with the PuTTY Key Generator and the .ppk extension - by providing their locations and passphrases.

It looks like Pageant does not remember your private keys and passphrases, so you have to re-add them again after each start of Pageant.