Instructions to enable OpenSSH on Windows 10/11 that gives you access to WSL2 Linux Based on: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/the-easy-way-how-to-ssh-into-bash-and-wsl2-on-windows-10-from-an-external-machine
# Open an admin elevated powershell terminal:
# push Windows key to display start menu, search "Powershell", right click on its entry item
# and select "Run as administrator"
# Check if you have the SSH server (and client) on Windows
Get-WindowsCapability -Online | ? Name -like 'OpenSSH*'
# Add the server
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
# Manually start the server
Start-Service sshd
Get-Service sshd
# Set it to start automatically on boot
Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType 'Automatic'
# You could use "bash.exe" as the distro to log in, and you will see your personal directory with it's file
# but if you have a customized distro, its better to use that. Check which is with:
wsl --list
# If the default distro you want to use is called "Debian", the file to run it should be debian.exe
# bash.exe is located at c:\Windows\System32\bash.exe, but customized ones will be on your profile
# You can check that is the case with (the executable will be size 0, that's normal),
# using Powershell with:
dir $env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe
# Or using cmd.exe with:
dir %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe
# If you use the wrong path, when trying to log in you will just get a "wrong password" response, so better
# check it executing on Powershell:
$env:USERPROFILE\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe
# Or using cmd.exe:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe
# To set that SSH should use "bash.exe" as your shell (or change to your default Linux distro location)
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\WINDOWS\System32\bash.exe" -PropertyType String -Force
# If instead you want to use debian.exe, better use the full path like this:
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Users\youruser\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\debian.exe" -PropertyType String -Force
# If you use a Microsoft account to log into your computer, use instead your short username.
# If identity is machine\youruser, you only need the "youruser" part, check it with:
whoami
# Test that you can locally log in, from the Powershell terminal.
# Remember to use your Windows password, not the password you may have set to WSL2 distro.
ssh youruser@localhost
# If your user is not an Administrator, you have to change Windows OpenSSH configuration to allow it to log in.
# Edit %programdata%\ssh\sshd_config and add:
# More info: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/openssh/openssh_server_configuration
AllowUsers youruser
# Test again that you can locally log in, open a powershell terminal:
# Remember to use your Windows password, not the password you may have set to WSL2 distro.
ssh youruser@localhost
# If your password doesn't seem to work, make sure login with password is enabled in Windows:
# 1.Open Settings.
# 2.Go to Accounts.
# 3.Click Sign-in Options.
# 4.Disable the Require Windows Hello Sign-in for Microsoft accounts.
# 5.Restart your computer.
# Now to SSH from another machine, check what is your Windows PC IP address
ipconfig /all## From another computer
# Log into yor Windows computer, if the IP is 192.168.1.10 and your username is "youruser", use:
# Remember to use your Windows password, not the password you may have set to WSL2 distro.
ssh [email protected]
# If local login works but not from another computer, you may need to set up Windows firewall to allow
# trafic through port 22. To do so, on the elevated Powershell terminal on Windows, execute:
iex "netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name='WSL2 SSH' dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=22"If you try to use ssh-copy-id, it won't work, as it tries to copy your public key to WSL $HOME/.ssh/auhorized_keys, and instead it should be copied to specific Windows directories.
If your user is not an Administrator, public key should be referenced in:
c:\users\youruser\.ssh\authorized_keysIf your user is an Administrator, it should be referenced in:
c:\ProgramData\.ssh\authorized_keysThat file may not exist, and writing in that directory is restricted. To create and edit it, run a Powershell as an administrator as described at the beginning of this document, change to that folder and create the file with notepad.
cd c:\ProgramData\.ssh
notepad authorized_keysYou can paste the content of your public key there.
More info here.