How to use Public Key exchange on Windows OpenSSH (sshd)

1. Make sure you have installed openssh with the following options
   1. Install under the SSHD_SERVER account (you should also set the password to something other than the default)
   2. Choose SSHD privilege seperation - Yes
2. Modify /etc/sshd_conf
   1. StrictModes no
   2. PubkeyAuthentication yes
   3. AuthorizedKeysFile .ssh/authorized_keys
3. If you modified /etc/sshd_conf, from an administrator cmd prompt or using the service control manager
   1. net stop opensshd
   2. net start opensshd
4. On the client, execute
   1. ssh-keygen -t dsa
   2. then copy id_dsa.pub to $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server (and remove id_dsa.pub from the $HOME/.ssh on the client)
      To summarize:
      • id_dsa should be in the client $HOME/.ssh/id_dsa
      • id_dsa.pub should be in the server $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file (if your id_dsa.pub is the only entry you can just call the file authorized_keys, if it isn't the only entry, then append it to authorized_keys)
5. On the client, attempt to
   1. connect to the server: 'ssh username@foobar' where you should be prompted for the private key password and then connected

If the sshd_server being a login name choice is bothersome to you, you can mask the display of that usernname with the following registry modifications (Vista+)

1. reg add "hklm\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts"
2. reg add "hklm\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList"
3. reg add "hklm\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList" /t REG_DWORD /v sshd_server /d 0

If this fails to work for you, please see the link on the left for Notes/Bugs/Fixes and run the client/server in debug mode to attempt to diagnose the problem.