Generating an SSH key pair on Microsoft Windows OS
- Download and install PuTTy Key Generator PuTTygen.exe file from www.puttygen.com
- In the Key menu, select SSH-2 RSA Key
- In Parameters, select the RSA option
- In Number of bits in generated key field at bottom of window, enter at least 2048 (but ideally 4096)
- In Actions, select Generate button
- When generation completes, a Public key will be populated into the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file text box. Copy the complete contents of the key field and paste into a text editor application
- In the Key comments field enter your login ID and current date in the following format (there is a dash between your login ID and date): <your-login ID>-yyyymmdd
- Click Save public key to Save your file as <your-login ID>-yyyymmdd.pub filename. Please use to file extension .pub
- At the Key widow, select Save private key to save the private key file
- When prompted to save Key without a passphrase, click Yes to skip and save the file as <your-login ID>-yyyymmdd.ppk filename. Please use the PuTTy Priviate Key file format with extension .ppk