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Keys

Key pairs used for user public-key authentication can be managed using the User Keys page of the Settings dialog.

Before you can use public-key authentication, you must generate a key pair for yourself. Then you must upload your public key to your home directory on the remote host computer. You also have to modify your authorization file to allow connection with the new key. For more information, see Section Key Generation.

Note: Your private keys should always be kept secret. This is important to remember if you are sharing your local computer with other users. In such case, it is not advisable to store your private keys in the local disk, or a directory that will be replicated over a network (as when using the Windows roaming profiles functionality).

For more information on user key files, see section Using Public-Key Authentication.

Figure : The Keys page of the Settings dialog.

Private key file list

The private key file list (located above the buttons on the User Keys page) shows the files used to store your private keys. The public keys are not displayed, as they have the same file names as the private keys, but with .pub as the file extension.

• Private Key File Name

  The Private Key File Name column displays the file names of your private keys.

• Comment

  The Comment column displays the comments (if any) associated with your private keys.

Buttons:

Below the private key list there are several buttons that can be used to administer your key files:

• Generate New Keypair

  Click the Generate New Keypair button to create a new public and private user key pair. This will bring up the Key Generation Wizard. For more information on this procedure, see section Key Generation Wizard.)

• Delete Keypair

  Select a key file from the private key file list and click the Delete button to delete the key file from your local computer.

• Export Keypair

  Select a key file from the private key file list and click the Export Keypair button to export the key pair. A Select Folder dialog will open, allowing you to specify the target location.

• Import Keypair

  Click the Import Keypair button to import a keypair. The Import Keypair - Select Files dialog will open, allowing you to locate the keypair to be imported.

• View Public Key

  Select a previously generated private key file from the private key file list and click the View Public Key button to display the corresponding public key. The public key file will be displayed in Notepad.

• Change Passphrase

  Select a previously generated private key file from the private key file list and click the Change Passphrase button to change the passphrase for the key.

• Upload Public Key

  Clicking the Upload Public Key button while connected to a remote server will automatically upload the selected public key. For more information on this procedure, see section Uploading Your Public Key.

• Configure Command Line Client ssh2.exe Keys

  Click the button to write the identification file that is used by the command line tool ssh2.exe to specify which keys can be used for authentication. All the keys listed in the private key list will be included in the identification file. If you want to disable some keys, you can then manually delete them from the identication file.

  The identification file will be placed in the user settings folder. The actual directory is displayed on the Profile Settings page of the Settings dialog - see Profile Settings.

  If a previous version of the identification file already exists, it will be overwritten. A confirmation dialog will be displayed asking you to verify that you want to do this.

  For more information on the ssh2.exe command line version of the client, see the Appendix SSH2.