Install Win32 OpenSSH

Install Win32 OpenSSH (test release)

1. Note these considerations and project scope first.

2. Download the latest build of OpenSSH. To get links to latest downloads this wiki page.

3. Extract contents of the latest build to C:\Program Files\OpenSSH

4. Start Windows Powershell as Administrator

5. Navigate to the OpenSSH directory

   • cd 'C:\Program Files\OpenSSH'

6. On Windows 10, if you've enabled Developer Mode, you probably have another implementation of SSH installed on your machine. To figure out if this is the case, look for TCP port bindings on port 22 and these services: “SSH Server Broker” and “SSH Server Proxy”

   • netstat -anop TCP
   • If you do see 22 occupied, #610 has workarounds to deal with port conflict.

7. Install sshd and ssh-agent services.

   • powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install-sshd.ps1

8. Generate SSH host keys

   • .\ssh-keygen.exe -A
   • Powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command ". .\FixHostFilePermissions.ps1 -Confirm:$false" (Note the first "." is a call operator.)

9. Secure SSH host keys (optional)

   • Start-Service ssh-agent
   • Download psexec from here
   • Launch cmd.exe as SYSTEM
     • psexec.exe -i -s cmd.exe
   • register host keys in above cmd.exe
     • ssh-add ssh_host_dsa_key
     • ssh-add ssh_host_rsa_key
     • ssh-add ssh_host_ecdsa_key
     • ssh-add ssh_host_ed25519_key
   • Host private keys are now securely stored by ssh-agent, private key files can be deleted at this point. sdelete may be used to securely erase them.

10. Open the firewall for sshd.exe to allow inbound SSH connections

    • New-NetFirewallRule -Name sshd -DisplayName 'OpenSSH Server (sshd)' -Service sshd -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -Action Allow

    Note: New-NetFirewallRule is for Windows 2012 and above servers only. If you're on a client desktop machine (like Windows 10) or Windows 2008 R2 and below, try:

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=sshd dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP service=sshd
    

11. Setup sshd and ssh-agent to auto-start (optional)

    • Set-Service sshd -StartupType Automatic
    • Set-Service ssh-agent -StartupType Automatic

12. Start the sshd and ssh-agent

    • net start sshd

13. Configuring the default ssh shell (optional)

On the server side, configure the default ssh shell in the windows registry.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH\DefaultShell - Full path (case sensitive) of the shell executable

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH\DefaultShellCommandOption - The switch that the configured default shell requires to execute a command and immediately exit and return to the calling process. It is used for executing the remote ssh commands. Example- ssh user@ip hostname

If you are configuring the powershell.exe/cmd.exe/WSL-bash.exe as default ssh shell then you can ignore Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH\DefaultShellCommandOption. Your registry should look like this.

If you want to configure default shell (Ex- cygwin) other than powershell/cmd/WSL-bash then your registry should look like this

Uninstall Win32 OpenSSH

• Start Windows Powershell as Administrator
• Navigate to the OpenSSH directory
  • cd 'C:\Program Files\OpenSSH'
• Run the uninstall script
  • powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File uninstall-sshd.ps1