How to generate SSH key pair on Windows

Public and private key pairs are used for the public-key authentication method in SSH. You can create an SSH key pair using ssh-keygen in Linux and other Unix-based operating systems, but the tool is not available on some versions of Windows.

PuTTY Key Generator or PuTTYgen is a graphical tool you can use to create public and private SSH key pairs on Windows. It's free software and is the most widely-used program to generate SSH key pairs on Windows.

1. Download PuTTY Key Generator (PuTTYgen) for your CPU architecture from the official download site.

   Related: PuTTYgen official download site

2. Launch PuTTYgen.
3. Select the type of key to generate and the size of the key in the Parameters section.

   Use default values if you're not sure about the parameters.

4. Click on the Generate button.
5. Move your mouse on the area to provide a random seed for the key.
6. Edit the key's comment if necessary.
7. Enter a passphrase to protect the key if necessary.
8. Click the Save public key button to save the public key.

   Copy the content of the displayed public key instead if you want to place it in an OpenSSH server's authorized_keys file for public key authentication method.

9. Enter the location and file name and click on the Save button.
10. Click on the Save private key button to save the private key.
11. Enter the location and file name for the private key and click on the Save button.
12. Convert the generated private key to OpenSSH format to use the key with OpenSSH client.

    Related: How to convert PPK key to OpenSSH using PuTTYGen