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.
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- 1 Download PuTTYgen
- 1.1 Download PuTTYgen on Windows
- 1.2 Download PuTTYgen for Mac
- 1.3 Download PuTTYgen for Ubuntu/Linux
- 1.3.3 Types of Keys Supported on PuTTYgen
Puttygen aka Putty Key Generator
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.
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.
How to use PuTTYgen?
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:
- Once you install the PuTTY on your machine, you can easily run PuTTYgen. For the same, go to Windows -> Start Menu -> All Programs -> PuTTY -> PuTTYgen.
- You will see the PuTTY key generator dialog box on your screen
- You will find a “Generate” button in that dialog. Clicking on it will lead to generating the keys for you.
- Now you will need to add a unique key passphrase in the Key passphrase and Confirm passphrase field.
- Click on the “Save Public Key” and “Save Private Key” buttons to save your public and private keys.
- You will see the text starting with ssh-RSA in the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file field which is located at the top of the window. Copy that entire text to your clipboard by pressing ctrl+c as you will require the key to paste on your clipboard in the public key tool of control panel or directly on the cloud server.
Various Ways to Use RSA Key Pair
RSA key pair generated through PuTTYgen is used in two various ways defined as below:
- To assign while creating a new cloud server
You can choose the public key from the given list of keys at the time of creating a cloud server. If you don’t find your key in that list, then first add and then assign it. - Assign to an existing cloud server
At the time of connecting to the cloud server, first of all, you need to tell PuTTY to use it for utilizing your newly created RSA key pair.
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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.
Download PuTTYgen on Windows
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:
Run PuTTYgen on Windows
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.
Download PuTTYgen for Mac
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.
Ported PuTTY for Mac
Mac has the port of PuTTY which can be installed in various ways described as below:
- Installation using Homebrew:
First, install the ‘brew command line’ Once installed use the below-given command to install PuTTY:-sudo brew install putty
- Installation using MacPorts:
First of all, one must install MacPorts and then use the command-line to install PuTTY. Here is the command to install PuTTY via MacPortssudo port install putty
Additionally, a user can also add a shortcut to the desktop by writing the following command line–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.
Download PuTTYgen for Ubuntu/Linux
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.
For example, Debian Linux requires the below-given code to install PuTTYgen:
sudo apt install putty-tools
Generate Key Pair for Authentication in Linux
To create the key pair for authentication in Linux use the below command:-
puttygen -t rsa -b 2048 -C 'user@host' -o keyfile.ppk
Various Command Line Options of PuTTY in Linux
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:
- Keyfile – It is the name of the existing key file to read at the time of changing the current key.
- –t keytype – The command specifies the type of key to creating. Its acceptable values are RSA and dsa.rsa1.
- -b bits – This command specifies a total number of bit in a particular key. 1024 is the perfect size for DSA key, while 2048 or 4096 are the perfect size for RSA keys.
- –q – The command suppresses the message about progress at the time of key generation.
- -C new-comment – The command will specify the comment to describe the key. It can be used for the new and/or existing key. Key operation is not affected by a comment. However, it is used to recognize the key owner, it’s not reliable completely as any value can be applied to it.
- –P – Using the command will update the passphrase of a key. Passphrase helps to encrypt the private key. As passphrase can’t add or update on a command line, it prompts a new passphrase tool to alter it.
- –old-passphrase-file – The old password of the key remains in this file. The command is used when the key is protected by a passphrase.
- –new-passphrase file – This command prompts the new passphrase of the key. It comes in the action either at the time of generating a new key or while applying –P command to change the passphrase.
- -O output-type – This command defines what to give in output. By default, the private key is the output.
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.
Types of Keys Supported on PuTTYgen
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:-
- SSH-1 protocol:- For SSH-1 only supports one key i.e. Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA)
- SSH-2 protocol: – SSH-2 supports multiple key types that include – Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA), Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Ed25519.
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, an open-source and free terminal application
A free, open-source terminal application, PuTTY is easily customizable and highly configurable. Apart from the basic serial terminal communications, SSH, telnet and rlogin, it can also initiate secure file transfers via SCP and SFTP. Additionally, PuTTY acts as a secure SSH tunnel for X11 traffic.
Over the years, it has been used by network engineers, system administrators, developers and all kinds of IT professionals. If you need to connect to a remote system, you’ll find PuTTY quite useful. But is it the best? Here’s the answer!
A powerful SSH and Telnet client
PuTTY can be run on a Microsoft Windows machine to connect to a (for example) Unix machine or other cross-platform integrations.
Simply put, It gives you a window, where anything you type goes straight to a Unix machine.
Anything that the Unix machine sends back is displayed on the window, thereby allowing you to get access to a console remotely.
Easy set up
Once you set up PuTTY, the clean and simple interface reveals a comprehensive configuration pane. It allows you to manage and customize connections and sessions alongside the window and the terminal.
Users can choose from several connection types, such as telnet, raw, rlogin, serial and SSH, to set logging options for a specific session.
The terminal
The terminal section refers to line discipline, remote-controlled printing and several general settings. The comprehensive features available make PuTTY one of the most popular terminal applications. Users can easily set alarms, keyboard actions, and use advanced features to tweak the behavior, colors and appearance of the window.
The Connection area in PuTTY offers customization options for Internet Protocol version, Terminal and Login details, Proxy type, Low-level TCP connections, Environment variables and several other protocol-specific adjustments.
Once you’ve successfully set up the connection, you can use the resources of a remote computer in a matter of seconds. Several IT professionals need to get remote access to computers on a daily basis.
PuTTY stores the host computer’s settings to facilitate accurate yet fast switches among machines. Additionally, it supports a wide range of encryption algorithms, such as DES, 3DES, Blowfish, AES and Arcfour.
Using PuTTY, you can take control via SSH encryption key along with the protocol version, while providing SFTP and SCP clients access through the command-line. In addition to dynamic, remote or local port forwarding, it also supports X11 forwarding, and IPV6 protocol and authentication via public-keys.
Without a doubt, PuTTY is an excellent application for experienced users and IT professionals. It comes in handy for people who need a reliable yet fully-customizable environment for their computer-to-computer secure connections. The wide range of protocols along with execution speed makes it a pretty good choice.
Where can you run this program?
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Originally written and developed for Microsoft Windows, PuTTY can be ported to several other operating systems. Currently, official ports are easily available for Unix-like platforms. There has been a lot of talk about releasing PuTTY for macOS and Classic Mac OS. Some unofficial ports have also been released for other platforms, such as Windows Phone, Windows Mobile and Symbian.
Is there a better alternative?
PuTTY is one of the most popular SSH clients for Microsoft Windows. The easy-to-use interface and small size make it quite popular among IT professionals. Having said that, you can still choose from a wide range of options available. Here’s a brief overview of 3 alternatives for PuTTY.
Solar-PuttyWith Solar-Putty, users can connect to any device on the network. Remote sessions can also be easily managed. Due to its wide range of searchability and features, Solar-Putty is often considered an excellent alternative for Putty. From a single console, users can manage multiple sessions with a tabbed interface.
KiTTYKiTTY isn’t actually a separate application. In fact, it has been built upon the structure of PuTTY. It won’t be wrong to call it a fork in the popular PuTTY project. Designed to run exclusively in Windows environment, KiTTY offers pretty much the same features as PuTTY. The clean and simple UI has made it quite popular among developers and network engineers.

An advanced terminal designed for Microsoft Windows with X11 server, MobaXterm offers tabbed SSH client and many other networking tools that allow remote computing. With MobaXterm, you get all the important Unix commands to your Windows desktop. It’s also available in a separate portable .exe file.
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Our take
A lot of network engineers, developers and system administrators need to connect to remote computer systems on a daily basis. Unfortunately, Microsoft Windows doesn’t come with the right tools to accomplish this task. With PuTTY, it gets easier to fill this gap and increase productivity for certain endeavors.
Should you download it?
Yes, PuTTY is an excellent choice as a terminal application. It’s quite useful for connecting to switches and routers (via SSH, telnet and serial connections), and mainframes and *Nix servers, which can be done via text-only terminal sessions. If you’ve been working with X11 over the public internet, PuTTY can effectively tunnel your sessions using SSH, thereby protecting sensitive data.
IT professionals with more demanding needs, such as support for additional protocols and writing macros, should look for some other tool. But if you’re looking to make common types of connections, PuTTY’s strong feature set won’t cause any trouble. For most IT professionals, PuTTY will be an excellent and sufficient choice.
Highs
- Extremely reliable
- Supports a wide variety of protocols
- Offers cross-platform support
Lows
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- Scripting unavailable
- Advanced features unavailable
- Overwhelming configuration options
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