Microsoft Adds Native OpenSSH Client To Windows 10

For a long time if you needed an OpenSSH client for a Windows computer you had to download and install one from a third-party. Applications like PuTTY are very popular with folks that need that sort of client software. Microsoft is now making moves to prevent Windows users from needing an openSSH client from a third party with its own integrated client for Windows 10.

The catch for right now is that the Microsoft ssh client is currently available only in beta form. There is a workaround that will get you access to it for now. The ssh client is part of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and there is a client and a server available for installation.

One known issue right now has to do with certain RSA keys, only ed25519 keys are supported for now according to GitHub, however, there are reports of some of those keys not working. We don't know right now when exactly the software might exit beta.

To access it you, must go to the Optional Features settings page. After opening that Optional Features page, you click add a feature. Then you can click the beta versions of the openSSH client or server. Once the client is installed, you can open a normal command prompt and enter ssh commands just as you normally would. Word on the street is that the client allows you to create shortcuts for session as well.

This sounds like something that Windows users who use lots of ssh will really appreciate and odds are it will move from beta quickly. For the full step-by-step instructions, check out the video below from ServeTheHome.