PuTTYgen is a key generator tool for creating pairs of public and private SSH keys. It is one of the components of the open-source networking client PuTTY. Although originally written for Microsoft Windows operating system, it is now officially available for multiple operating systems including macOS, Linux. PuTTYgen.exe is the graphical tool on Windows OS. While on the other side, Linux OS has the only command-line version could be accessible using SSH commands.
The key generation utility – PuTTYgen can create various public-key cryptosystems including Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA), Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA), Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA), and Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) keys.
Now you can use putty. Putty For Mac Os X Free Download. Read More – Skype for Mac Download. Putty Alternative for Mac Putty Equivalent for Mac Terminal; It is an app default CLI that comes bundled with the Mac. You can use the Terminal to SSH into a remote server, provided, obviously, you have the valid login details. PuTTY downloads. PuTTY is most commonly used on Windows. It is also available on Linux. Download PuTTY for Windows. Alternative SSH clients. There many SSH clients that are more modern. A major shortcoming of PuTTY is that it does not have integrated file transfers in the client itself.
The aforementioned public-key cryptosystems principally focus on secure data transmission and digital signatures.
Although PuTTYgen collects keys in its native file format i.e. .ppk files, the keys can easily be converted to any file format. For Windows, the software interface is PuTTYgen.exe, whereas, for Linux OS the command-line adaptation is available using SSH commands.
PuTTYgen is used to generate public or private key pair for creating SSH keys. Below is the complete guidance about how to generate RSA key in the Windows operating system:
Various Ways to Use RSA Key Pair
RSA key pair generated through PuTTYgen is used in two various ways defined as below:
PuTTYgen being a component of the terminal emulator PuTTY does not have to be downloaded separately, hence, comes with the PuTTY .msi installation package. You can follow the simple steps to download PuTTYgen software for your system. That is the reason why you don’t need to download PuTTYgen separately. Once you download PuTTY software, you will be able to install and run PuTTYgen easily in no time. Below is the complete instruction about how to download and install PuTTY on Windows.
Apart from that, it is also integrated into third-party programs such as WinSCP installation package. Below you can find a complete PuTTYgen download and installation guide for all operating systems.
To download PuTTYgen the primary requisite is to acquire the copy of PuTTY installation package. For the 64-bit operating system, one must install the 64-bit version of PuTTY, i.e. putty-64bit-<version>-installer.msi.Similarly, for the 32-bit operating system, the respective 32-bit version of PuTTY, i.e. putty-<version>-installer.msi needs to be installed.
To get PuTTY, go to PuTTY Installation Download page, whereby the complete installation package will be available with setup instructions, installation guide, and download links to all other components of PuTTY such as putty.exe, pscp.exe, psftp.exe, puttytel.exe, plink.exe, pageant.exe and putty.zip.
Following the successful download of the PuTTY installation package. It is time to install the program. Go to How to install PuTTY on Windows, whereby you will find the step by step guidance for PuTTY installation for Windows operating system.
After successfully downloading and installing PuTTY on your Windows machine, you are just 2-3 clicks away to run PuTTYgen. Follow the below-given step by step guidance to run PuTTYgen:
To run PuTTYgen, Go to Windows -> Start Menu -> All Programs -> PuTTY -> PuTTYgen. You will see a window for the PuTTY Key Generator on your screen.
Voila! Now you can generate public or private key pair using PuTTYgen.
Below is the detailed guide to download PuTTYgen on Mac operating system. Mac OS has a built-in command-line SSH client known as Terminal. To utilize it, go to Finder and then opt for Go -> utilities from the top menu. After that find the terminal which supports SSH connections to remote servers.
However, to run PuTTYgen for mac, the first one must have to install PuTTY. There are multiple ways to install PuTTY, which are Homebrew or MacPorts. Both alternatives will also install the command-line of adaptations of PuTTYgen.
Mac has the port of PuTTY which can be installed in various ways described as below:
sudo brew install putty
sudo port install putty
–cp /opt/local/bin/putty ~/Desktop/PuTTY
However, there is an alternative way to install PuTTY on Mac OS. Cyberduck is a widely used Mac OS SSH Client. Once PuTTY installed on the Mac OS, a user can convert PuTTY derived private key format to OpenSSH.
To convert the private key to standard PEM format, type the following command –
puttygen privatekey.ppk -O private-openssh -o privatekey.pem
You can also read the guide to convert .pem file to .ppk using puttygen.
To download PuTTYgen for Ubuntu (Linux) operating system, a user to first install PuTTY. However, in some Linux distributions, the SSH key generation tool – PuTTYgen needs to be installed independently from the PuTTY client.
Equation editor. For example, Debian Linux requires the below-given code to install PuTTYgen:
sudo apt install putty-tools
To create the key pair for authentication in Linux use the below command:-
puttygen -t rsa -b 2048 -C 'user@host' -o keyfile.ppk
Below are few important command line options in the Linux operating system for PuTTY:
PuTTYgen [-t keytype [-b bits] [-q] | keyfile]
[-C new-comment] [-P]
[-O output-type | -p | -l | -L]
[-o output-file]
Options:
Thus, above are the prominent commands of PuTTYgen in Linux operating system. Besides that, there are many other commands available to perform various tasks from the command prompt in Linux at flank speed.
It is important to know the types of key PuTTYgen supports prior to using it. Below are the key types that it currently supports for SSH-2 and SSH-1 protocol:-
The above description is a detailed brief on downloading and running PuTTYgen on all major operating systems. For further details please check the Download PuTTY page.
PuTTY for Mac is a port of the Windows version of PuTTY. However, there are many options for SSH clients for Mac, and this page discusses several of them.
If you’re dead set on using PuTTY on Mac, try this: PuTTY SSH client for Mac OS X - Download, Tutorial. 2.9k Views View 1 Upvoter. Anas Fettach. Updated Nov 19, 2015. As in the previous answers, you can use Terminal on mac. As I am used to putty on windows, the sessions saving feature is really great. SSH Public Key Authentication. Mac, Linux, or Unix) Copying the public key to any server you want to authenticate using this authentication method. Creating and Copying Your Key-Pair in PuTTY SSH Client. Putty is available here. Start puttygen. Select SSH2 DSA. Change Number of bits from 1024 bits to 2048 bits for better security.
Mac OS X includes a command-line SSH client as part of the operating system. To use it, goto Finder, and selext Go -> Utilities from the top menu. Then look for Terminal. Terminal can be used to get a local terminal window, and also supports SSH connections to remote servers.
Once you have the terminal window open, you have two alternatives. The first approach is to type ssh hostname
or ssh [email protected]
into the terminal window. This is more familiar for Linux and Unix users who are used to using a command line.
The second option is to select New Remote Connection. from the Shell menu of Terminal. This opens a graphical dialog asking for the host to connect to and the user name. This also allows saving connections. This is recommended for users who are not accustomed to using a command line.
If you have a PuTTY .ppk
format private key and want to use it with the built-in OpenSSH on Mac on the command line or in scripts, you can use the following commands.
First, install PuTTY for Mac using brew install putty
or port install putty
(see below). This will also install the command-line version of puttygen, the PuTTY key generator tool.
Then, use the following command to convert the .ppk
format private key to a standard PEM format private key:
Make sure permissions on the private key file are set properly. It should only be readable by the user that owns it.
You can now use the key for logins from scripts and command line with:
There is a port of PuTTY for Mac. It can be installed in several ways.
If you already have the brew
command installed, the best way to install PuTTY is to use the following command:
PuTTY is readily available via MacPorts. To see how to install MacPorts and PuTTY, see here.
Once you have MacPorts installed, you just need to give this command:
and to add a shortcut on the Desktop,
A lot of people use Cyberduck on Mac. It is a solid, well-known SSH client that is quite popular.