Generating an SSH key pair on Microsoft Windows OS

  1. Download and install PuTTy Key Generator PuTTygen.exe file from www.puttygen.com
  2. In the Key menu, select SSH-2 RSA Key
  3. In Parameters, select the RSA option
  4. In Number of bits in generated key field at bottom of window, enter at least 2048 (but ideally 4096)
  5. In Actions, select Generate button
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. Click Save public key to Save your file as <your-login ID>-yyyymmdd.pub filename.  Please use to file extension .pub
  9. At the Key widow, select Save private key to save the private key file
  10. 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