SSH remote access with PuTTY for Windows users

Owned by Aaron Cayard-Roberts
Sept 14, 2020
3 min read

If you are authorized to use ssh and already have an account you can use these instructions to set up your public/private keys and the PuTTY client.

Generate keys

In Windows, use PuTTYgen to generate your public and private keys.

  1. If needed, download PuTTYgen from the PuTTY download page. (PuTTYgen might have been installed previously with PuTTY or WinSCP.)

  2. Launch the program, and then click the Generate button. The program generates the keys for you.

  3. Enter a unique key passphrase in the Key passphrase and Confirm passphrase fields. This key passphrase should be something different and more complex than your normal Earlham password.

  4. Save the public and private keys by clicking the Save public key and Save private key buttons. Make sure you remember where you saved them from because they will both be needed later. The private key should always be stored in a safe place that only you will be able to access.

  5. From the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file field at the top of the window, copy all the text (starting with ssh-rsa) to your clipboard by pressing Ctrl-C.

  6. Paste ( Ctrl-V ) the copied Public key text into an email or helpdesk ticket to ITS.

 

Configuring PuTTY

The following steps guide you through configuring a profile to connect to paz.earlham.edu.

Add the Connection Details

On the PuTTY Configuration screen, fill in the field labeled Host Name (or IP Address) with paz.earlham.edu. Confirm that the Port is set to 22 and that the Connection type SSH is selected.

 

 

Specify an SSH Key

Next, click on SSH in the left sidebar (under Connection). Open the Auth subcategory (you have to click the + next to SSH to see it).

In the Private key file for authentication section, click the Browse button.

 

Search for your private key file, which ends in .ppk, and click Open in the file window.

Add the Username

Next, in the Connection subheading in the Data configuration section, enter your server's username in the Auto-login username field. If you do not know your ssh username please contact ITS.

 

Save your Preferences

Finally, you can save these preferences to avoid typing them manually in the future. Click on Session in the left sidebar (the top option that you started on), then add a name in the text box under Saved Sessions and click Save on the right.

 

Once your preferences are saved, you are ready to connect to paz.

Connecting

Once you have a session saved, you can recall these values at any time by returning to the Session screen, selecting the session you would like to use in the Saved Sessions section, and clicking Load to recall the settings. This auto-fills all of the fields with the values you initially selected.

Once you have loaded your preferences, click the Open button to connect to paz.

 

 

The first time you connect, PuTTY asks you to confirm that you trust the server. Choose Yes to save the server identity in PuTTY's cache.

After PuTTY starts, type in the password you set on your key.

When you have successfully authenticated, you are connected to paz.earlham.edu and from there you can connect to the internal servers your authorized to use.