How to use SSH on Windows

Secure Shell, which we know better by its acronym SSH, is a remote administration protocol which allows us to modify and control our remote servers on the Internet. All in compliance with the strictest canons of online security. In this article we are going to explain how to use SSH on Windows and what are the benefits that this will bring us.

Many users of Linux and MacOS operating systems use SSH on their remote servers from the terminal itself. In the case of Windows, the procedure is somewhat different.

SSH was created in 1997 with the objective of replace Telnet, which, being an unencrypted protocol, did not offer any type of security to its users. This is precisely the fundamental aspect and definitive argument for using Secure Shell: the to maximise security and your enjoyment.. SSH uses the most innovative cryptography techniques to guarantee secure communication between users and remote servers.

How SSH works

In order to encrypt data transmitted between the client and the server, SSH uses a double authentication system. On the one hand, it uses public key cryptography and on the other hand, it uses a private key.. The keys for each of them are generated at the time of establishing the connection: the public key is shared with the server and the private key is kept by the client. 

Therefore, we must differentiate between two main components:

• SSH Client, which is an application that the user can run on their computer to connect to the server.
• SSH server, the software that runs on the remote server.

An important aspect to keep in mind is that, if we want to use this connection, it will first be necessary to configure a specific computer that fulfills the role of SSH server. Other alternatives would be to upload the files to be shared to the cloud or set up a remote desktop.

Enable and use SSH on Windows

The process of setting up SSH in Windows is not particularly complicated. These are the steps to follow:

Activate a computer as an SSH server

1. Firstly, we turn on the PC that we are going to use as a server.
2. Then we use the key combination Windows + R and, in the search box that appears, we write services.msc.
3. In the window that opens, we search and click on OpenSSH SSH Server.
4. Then we press "Start".*
5. Then you have to repeat exactly the same action with OpenSSH Authentication Agent. Sometimes it is disabled, so you have to go into Properties to enable it.
6. Now we open the start menu and write PowerShell. The following actions must be performed via the command line PowerShell, since the Command Prompt is not enough.
7. Then we access the console Windows PowerShell as administrator.
8. Next, we insert the following command: New-NetFirewallRule -Name sshd -DisplayName 'OpenSSH Server (sshd)' -Service sshd -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -Action Allow -Profile Domain.

(*) If we want this start to be automatic every time the computer is turned on, we must click on the tab Properties and there change the startup type from Manual to Automatic.

Activate a computer as an SSH client

Once the first phase is completed, let's now see what we must do to activate a computer as an SSH client. IN this second phase it is essential to use a program called PuTTY:

1. Let's go to the computer that we want to use as an SSH client.
2. In it, we install the software PuTTY (the download link, here). It is recommended to download the file with extension . MSI, that is, the 64-bit version.
3. Once the installation is complete, the way to use this software is very simple: just write the IP marked as Host Name and click on the button Open.

Sometimes some problems may arise when using SSH in Windows, such as authentication failures or errors when establishing a connection with the server due to a firewall, etc. All these small bugs can be easily solved by changing the settings.

Conclusions: the importance of using SSH

The importance of using SSH lies in the fact that it offers us a secure way to connect to remote servers. If an unencrypted connection is used, the data transmission could be intercepted by anyone. That would be a very serious security breach that a hacker (or even any user with minimal knowledge) could use to extract sensitive information, from passwords to credit card information.

However, this is not so easy with the use of SSH, a protocol capable of encrypting data so that it can only be read by the client and the server.

On the other hand, SSH on Windows and any other operating system offers extensive customization possibilities. These options can be managed by editing the SSH configuration file on the system.