Can I use a PuTTY Private Key with Open SSH on Linux

From: Grant W Quinlan (Security_at_UncommonDenominator.org)
Date: 03/07/05

  • Next message: sam: "restricted scp file transfer without typing in password" 
    Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2005 21:24:42 -0800

    Summary: No problems moving public key around on Unix, Linux, WinXP, and
    Win98 machines. No problems moving private key between Windows machines.
    BIG PROBLEM moving private key generated on WinXP to Linux.

    Details: I used the PuTTY package on Windows to generate a
    private/public RSA2 key pair on Win XP (with a passphrase). I installed
    the public key on two Linux servers (RedHat) and copied the private key
    (using my USB Flash Drive) to three different Win XP machines. Some
    minor modifications of the PuTTY public key to match the format of the
    keys on the Linux machines was required, but this is all working great.

    For the sake of tracking users making connections and overall simplicity
    I would now like to also use my PuTTY private key to connect from my
    Linux desktop at home (SuSE 8.1). This is not working. The Open SSH
    private keys have 13 lines of data, all contained between two simple
    header lines. The PuTTY private key also has 13 lines of data, but
    broken up into 3 sections each with it's own header comment. Obviously
    the filename extension needs to be dropped for the file to be read. I've
    tried many modifications of this private key file, and several get me to
    the pass phrase prompt, but I cannot get any farther.

    Has anyone done this before? Any hints or ideas?

                  Thanks,
                     Grant W. Quinlan
                     Security@UncommonDenominator.org

  • Next message: sam: "restricted scp file transfer without typing in password"

    Relevant Pages

    • Re: ssh setup problem
      ... public key was in the desktop authorized_hosts I could ssh from new to ... machines other than the known_hosts file) .ssh directory to the new ... get the feeling you're using a passwordless private key so security ...
      (uk.comp.os.linux)
    • Re: Sharing the SSH server keys & other questions
      ... leave the private key on the ... Note that other machines may or may not have access to the public key ... > key to the client. ... You would certainly want to avoid installing a private key onto machines ...
      (comp.security.ssh)
    • Can I use a PuTTY Private Key with Open SSH on Linux
      ... No problems moving private key between Windows machines. ... BIG PROBLEM moving private key generated on WinXP to Linux. ... the public key on two Linux servers and copied the private key ...
      (comp.security.ssh)
    • Can I use a PuTTY Private Key with Open SSH on Linux
      ... No problems moving private key between Windows machines. ... BIG PROBLEM moving private key generated on WinXP to Linux. ... the public key on two Linux servers and copied the private key ...
      (comp.security.ssh)
    • Can I use a PuTTY Private Key with Open SSH on Linux
      ... No problems moving private key between Windows machines. ... BIG PROBLEM moving private key generated on WinXP to Linux. ... the public key on two Linux servers and copied the private key ...
      (comp.security.ssh)