SSH Key Setup on Windows with OpenSSH

1. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell. You can use either application for the following steps.

Option A: Open Command Prompt

Select the Start menu or press the Windows key, type Command Prompt, and select Command Prompt from the search results.

You should see a window with a prompt similar to:

Option B: Open PowerShell

Select the Start menu or press the Windows key, type PowerShell, and select Windows PowerShell or PowerShell from the search results.

You should see a window with a prompt similar to:

2. Use your CSUF campus Login ID and the current date as the name of your SSH key. Use the following format:

<your-login-ID>-yyyymmdd

Example:
If your CSUF campus Login ID is student1 and the date is June 13, 2025, use:

student1-20250613

3. Run the following command to generate the SSH key pair:

Replace student1-20250613 with your own CSUF campus Login ID and the current date.

4. When prompted for a passphrase, follow the instructions provided by your instructor or system administrator. If a passphrase is not required, press Enter, then press Enter again to confirm.

After the key is generated, you should see a confirmation message and a randomart image.

5. Verify that the SSH key files were created by running:

You should see two files similar to these:

student1-20250613 (private key)

student1-20250613.pub (public key)

6. To view the contents of your public key, run:

Replace student1-20250613.pub with the name of your own public key file.