Since finding out about the automated scripts for SSH logins I decided i wanted to only allow only one user/computer to login remotely. I've successfully run a test configuration with a linux client-computer using the ssh-keygen and all and i was able to access the server with the generated public and private keys.

I'm having trouble doing the same with PuTTY. I dont know how to generate keys with PuTTy. I am using Windows and it obviously does not have the SSH daemon.


Any ideas?

With PuTTY use the puttygen.exe program to generate a new public/private key pair. The authorized_keys compatible line will be shown in the window. You will have to copy/paste this into a text file which you will have to append to the authorized_keys file on the server. The private key can be saved in it's .ppk file (which looks similar to an ssh private key but which didn't work properly if memory serves). You then set PuTTY to use the .ppk file as the private key and if the server has the public key appended then you should be able to connect fine. plink.exe is a better program to use if you wish to drive PuTTY from the command line or a batch file as it's command line syntax is richer. If I'm not mistaken then the -i option is used to specify a file to use when authenticating.

thanks for the reply nhs, i dont have the puttygen.exe program. I probably have to go download it from wherever i downloaded putty.

Google PuTTY turns up the site as the first link. There is a zip file you can download which contains all the programs (putty.exe, pscp.exe, psftp.exe, etc).

I was able to do the key generation successfully. I denied logins with the root username. Is there any way i can deny other users?

Not in itself however if you restrict yourself to public/private key authentication then it's (to my knowledge) impossible to login to an account without an authorized_keys file. They will just reject any key.