Move the mouse on your screen to create some additional ramdom data, that will be used to calculate your new key.Ĭlick on Save public key and save it in a file named id_rsa.pub. You are reminded that this key will be used to manage all accounts, so choose a secure password please.Ĭlick on Generate to create a new key pair.

Think of a new password and enter it there. This is more secure than 2048 Bit in case the key should be used for many years. Start PUTTYgen to generate a new ssh key:Ĭreate a new RSA key with 4096 Bit. msi file you've just downloaded using the Windows Explorer and follow the installer's directions. Putty offers gpg-signatures ( signature) as well as checksums ( Checksum files) at the end of the page. How to verify that is out of the scope of this document and may be subject to a future article. It's best practice to verify all downloaded files with checksums (like SHA256) or signatures (GPG) in order to guarantee their integrity. Putty can be downloaded from its authors site free of charge: Ĭhoose the installer for your Windows version: 32-bit for older Windows versions and computers that have 4 GB of RAM at most, the 64-bit version otherwise. That means that all commands or data transported over a ssh connection are never sent in cleartext. All connections are encrypted, not just the login process. This procedure is in use for decades and considered very secure. It's called public because everyone can see it without security implications. The public key will be distributed to all the servers you want to manage. As the names indicate, the private key has to be kept private (which means on your computer only) and it should be protected by a secure password. Technically ssh keys consist of a public and a private key. Just one ssh key pair is enough to manage all your websites. Ssh keys can be used to simplify the situation and save time as they work like a master key. People tend to save those in a file, and a password manager, and of course in every software that needs them in the first place. This is the easiest solution if you have just one ssh account but with several websites the time needed to manage all access credentials increases. Most webhosting companies support logins with username and password. It's available for download free of charge. On Windows you can make changes to your website on a linux server using putty. They are often controlled by the textbased ssh protocol whereas Windows uses graphical user interfaces and protocols like remote desktop (RDP) or VNC.

Install putty for Windows and work with ssh keysĪ lot of webservers run a Linux operating system.

Download putty ssh keygen