Loading a PuTTY Session with Public SSH

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PuTTY offers several ways to securely connect to remote systems using Secure Shell (SSH). One of the most secure methods involves loading a saved session that includes your private key for authentication. In this article, we will walk through the process of setting up and connecting to an existing PuPTY session using public SSH.

Prerequisites

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Before you begin, ensure you have:

1. A working PuTTY installation on your local machine.

2. The private key file generated in a previous step (typically with a .ppk extension).

3. Access credentials for the remote system, including username and password or other authentication factors as required.

Step 1: Obtain Your Public SSH Key

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To connect to an existing PuTTY session using public SSH, you will need access to your public key. Follow these steps:

### Step 1.2 Collecting Your Public Key

1. Open a text editor like Notepad++ or Sublime Text.

2. Click File > Open and select the private key file (.ppk) generated in step 1.

Your public SSH key should now be displayed within the text editor window, ready for uploading into your preferred secure shell client's configuration settings (more on this below).

Step 2: Configure PuTTY to Use Your Public Key

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To configure PuPTY to use a private key for authentication when connecting to an existing session:

### Step 2.1 Attaching a Private Key to the Session Configuration

1. Open PuTTY by double-clicking its icon or navigating through your Start menu (Windows) / Applications folder (macOS).

2. In the Host Name (or IP Address) field, enter either the hostname of the remote system you wish to connect to or its IP address.

3. Click on Session in the left-hand side navigation bar and then select Connection > SSH > Authentication.

4. Under Private key for authentication, choose 'Private key file' from the drop-down menu.

### Step 2.2 Selecting Your Saved PuTTY Profile

1. Browse to the location where you saved your private key (.ppk) in step 1 and double-click it to load it into PuTTY's session configuration.

2. Click OK once you've successfully loaded your public SSH key into PuPTY.

Step 3: Connecting Using Public Key Authentication

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With both steps completed, follow these final instructions:

### Step 3.1 Loading an Existing Session

1. In the 'Connection' panel on the left-hand side of PuTTY's main window, click Load in the Sessions section.

2. Select your existing session from the list that appears and then click Open.

PuTTY will now attempt to establish a secure connection using public key authentication based on the settings you've configured within its preferences dialog box (more information can be found under 'Configuring PuTTY for Public Key Authentication' below).

Troubleshooting Tips

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If you encounter any issues while attempting to connect via public SSH, ensure that:

1. Your private key is properly formatted and stored in a secure location accessible only by authorized users.

2. The correct path has been entered when specifying the location of your private key within PuTTY's session configuration settings.

By following these simple steps, you should now be able to successfully load an existing PuTTY session using public SSH for secure remote access to your desired systems without ever needing to enter a username and password combination each time.

Loading a putty session with public ssh