Generating SSH Keys on Windows

To connect to your Pagely VPS over SSH, you'll first need to add an SSH key to your account. If you don't already have an SSH key that you want to use, you'll need to generate one. In this article, we'll show you how to check for existing SSH keys and generate a new SSH key pair.

Downloading PuTTYgen

The easiest way to generate SSH keys on Windows is by using PuTTYgen. PuTTYgen is a free open source GUI for generating SSH key pairs.

Download PuTTYgen and open it to continue with the next section.

Generating a Key Pair Using PuTTYgen

With PuTTYgen downloaded and open, it's time to generate a new key pair. Here's how to do it:

1. First, look at the bottom of the window inside the Parameters section and check to make sure that the Key Type is set to RSA.
   
   
   Note: Ed25519 keys are not supported at this time.
   
   
2. Inside the Number of bits in a generated key field, ensure that it is set to 2048.
   
   
   
   
3. Now that your settings are defined, click on the Generate button to begin generating your key.
   
   
   
   
4. After initiating the key generation, you'll be asked to move your mouse around the screen to randomly generate the key. Continue doing this until the green bar has completely filled.
   
   
   
   
5. Once the key has completed generation, you can now add a few extra details to it. A useful but not required setting is the Key comment field. Inside this field, enter an identifier just in case you end up with multiple keys later and need to identify them.
   
   
   
   
6. While a Key passphrase isn't required, it's a good idea to have in the event that someone were to gain access to your key file. We highly recommend that you set a passphrase on your key.
   
   
   
   
7. Once your optional settings are defined, you're ready to save your key. Click on the Save Private Key and Save Public Key buttons to save your keys locally on your computer. Be sure to put them somewhere safe where you won't lose them!
   
   
   
   
8. Lastly, grab your OpenSSH-formatted public key by copying the contents of the "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" field at the top. You'll need it when adding your SSH key to Atomic, so be sure to save it somewhere safe.
   
   

Your keys have now been generated and are ready to be used for connecting to your VPS over SSH or SFTP.

Next Steps: Adding Your SSH Key to Atomic

If you want to connect to your Pagely VPS using SSH/SFTP, you'll need to associate your new SSH key with your Pagely account. To learn more about how to do this, take a look at our article on adding SSH keys to your Pagely account.