-->

OpenSSH is the open-source version of the Secure Shell (SSH) tools used by administrators of Linux and other non-Windows for cross-platform management of remote systems.OpenSSH has been added to Windows as of autumn 2018, and is included in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019.

SSH is based on a client-server architecture where the system the user is working on is the client and the remote system being managed is the server.OpenSSH includes a range of components and tools designed to provide a secure and straightforward approach to remote system administration, including:

• sshd.exe, which is the SSH server component that must be running on the system being managed remotely
• ssh.exe, which is the SSH client component that runs on the user's local system
• ssh-keygen.exe generates, manages and converts authentication keys for SSH
• ssh-agent.exe stores private keys used for public key authentication
• ssh-add.exe adds private keys to the list allowed by the server
• ssh-keyscan.exe aids in collecting the public SSH host keys from a number of hosts
• sftp.exe is the service that provides the Secure File Transfer Protocol, and runs over SSH
• scp.exe is a file copy utility that runs on SSH

Openssh Ssh Client Download

Documentation in this section focuses on how OpenSSH is used on Windows, including installation, and Windows-specific configuration and use cases. Here are the topics:

Additional detailed documentation for common OpenSSH features is available online at OpenSSH.com.

The OpenSSH SSH client supports SSH protocols 1 and 2. The default is to use protocol 2 only, though this can be changed via the Protocol option in sshconfig (5) or the -1 and -2 options (see above). Protocol 1 should not be used and is only offered to support legacy devices. Run Powershell as an Administrator. Enter the OpenSSH folder path in the appropriate field. To install OpenSSH, run the '.install-sshd.ps1' command. If the line “sshd and ssh-agent services successfully installed” appears, installation was successful. To generate a host key, run the '.ssh-keygen.exe.

The master OpenSSH open source project is managed by developers at the OpenBSD Project.The Microsoft fork of this project is in GitHub.Feedback on Windows OpenSSH is welcomed and can be provided by creating GitHub issues in our OpenSSH GitHub repo.

Openssh Ssh Client Login

With each new release of Windows 10, we see more and more useful tools being ported from Linux. First, we had the Windows Subsystem for Linux, which is awesome, and now we have a built-in OpenSSH client and server, which uses version 7.6p1 of OpenSSH.

With the April 2018 Update, the OpenSSH client is now installed by default works really well. Especially the client, as you no longer need to use a 3rd party SSH client such as Putty when you wish to connect to a SSH server.

Openssh Windows Client

For this article, we are going to focus on the OpenSSH Client because Windows does not need another method to gain remote access and configuring the Windows 10 OpenSSH Server deserves its own article.

First confirm that the OpenSSH client is installed by looking under the installed optional features. If it is installed, you will see it listed as shown below. If so some reason it is not installed, you can click on 'Add a feature' to install it.

Ssh With Username

Using the Windows 10 OpenSSH Client

To use the OpenSSH client, simply open a command prompt and type ssh and press enter. If the OpenSSH Client was properly installed, you will see the help file that displays all of the command line arguments. For information on what each command line argument means, you can reference this man page for SSH.

The current list of arguments are:

To connect to a remote server you simply use the command line ssh [user]@[host]. For example, to connect to a test Ubuntu server I have setup, I would type ssh bleeping@ub-test. If it's your first time connecting to a particular SSH server it will display a host key fingerprint and ask you to confirm if you want to connect. If you type yes, this hosts's key will be saved in the %UserProfile%.sshknown_hosts file and you will not be asked again when you connect to the same server.

You will then be prompted to enter the password for the user account on the remote server that you are logging into as shown below.

Openssh For Windows 10

If you enter the correct password, you will be logged into the remote server and presented with a shell.

Openssh Compatible Ssh Client

When you are done using the remote server and would like to disconnect the SSH session, simply type exit and press enter. You will then be logged out, the SSH client will state 'Connection to [server] closed.', and you can close the command prompt.

Other programs included with the OpenSSH Client include scp.exe and sftp.exe. These executables are located in the C:WindowsSystem32OpenSSH folder.

Updated 5/15/18: Updated article to include info that it is installed by default with the April 2018 Update.