puttygen¶
puttygen, also called 'PuTTY Key Generator', is a free program
for Linux, Mac and Windows to create SSH keys in multiple formats,
among others the .ppk file format, which is needed for
FileZilla.
Get puttygen¶
puttygen can be downloaded from its (advertisement-heavy)
website at https://www.puttygen.com.
Create SSH key files¶
Would you like a video?
This procedure is demonstrated in this YouTube video called 'Create SSH key files in puttygen'.
This procedure shows how to generate the following SSH key files:
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
my_key |
Private key, in OpenSSH format |
my_key.ppk |
Private key, in Putty private key format |
my_key.pub |
Public key |
Follow the following steps.
1. Click on 'generate'¶
In puttygen, click on 'Generate'
How does that look like?
2. Move the mouse cursor over the window¶
Move the mouse cursor over the puttygen window
until the progress bar is filled up.
How does that look like?
The keys have now been generated
3. Click on 'Save public key'¶
In puttygen, click on 'Save public key'.
How does that look like?
4. Save the public key as a .pub file¶
In the 'Save public key as' dialog, save the public key
as [description].pub, e.g. demo.pub.
How does that look like?
Now you have your public key file!
5. Click on 'Save private key'¶
In puttygen, click on 'Save private key'.
How does that look like?
6. If needed: ignore the warning¶
You will get a warning, click on 'Ignore'.
Why is there this warning?
In this procedure, the private key does not get a password. Some settings, however, do require such a password.
How does that look like?
7. Save the private key as a .ppk file¶
In the 'Save private key as' dialog, save the private key
as [description], e.g. demo. It will be saved as
[description].ppk, e.g. demo.ppk.
How does that look like?
Now you have your private key file in ppk format!
8. Click on 'Conversions | Export OpenSSH key'¶
In puttygen, click on 'Conversions | Export OpenSSH key'
How does that look like?
9. If needed: ignore the warning¶
You will get a warning, click on 'Ignore'.
Why is there this warning?
In this procedure, the private key does not get a password. Some settings, however, do require such a password.
How does that look like?
10. Click on 'Save private key'¶
In the 'Save private key as' dialog, save the private key
as [description], e.g. demo. It will be saved as
[description] (i.e. without a file extension), e.g. demo
(again: without a file extension).
How does that look like?
Now you have your private key file in OpenSSH format!