How to SSH using PuTTY with a public key

Introduction

PuTTY is a free application that allows Windows users to access Linux servers via SSH. This article provides the steps necessary to SSH into a cPanel server using PuTTY with a public key.

Procedure

Please note that the following instructions assume that PuTTY has already been installed.

1. From the Windows "Start" menu, open the PuTTYgen application.
2. Under the "Actions" section, click the "Generate" button.
3. Copy the contents of the "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" text box.
4. Paste the public key into a text document.
5. Enter a passphrase in the "Key passphrase" text box.
6. Enter the same passphrase in the "Confirm passphrase" text box.
7. Click the "Save private key" button.
8. Enter a file name in the "File Name" text box.
9. Select "PuTTY Private Key Files (.ppk)" from the "Save as type" dropdown menu.
10. Click the "Save" button.
11. Access the server's command line as the SSH user.
12. Open the .ssh/authorized_keys file with your preferred text editor.
13. Copy the public key from the text document and paste it into the .ssh/authorized_keys file.
14. Save the changes and exit the text editor.
15. From the Windows "Start" menu, open the PuTTY application.
16. Load the session profile the key will be used with.
17. Navigate to "Connection » SSH » Auth."
18. In the "Authentication parameters" section, click the "Browse" button.
19. Select the .ppk file saved above.
20. Click the "Open" button to open the SSH connection.