Install OpenSSH on Windows

 OpenSSH components can be installed using Windows Settings on Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 devices.

To install the OpenSSH components:

1. Open Settings, select Apps > Apps & Features, then select Optional Features.

2. Scan the list to see if the OpenSSH is already installed. If not, at the top of the page, select Add a feature, then:

   • Find OpenSSH Client, then click Install
   • Find OpenSSH Server, then click Install

Once setup completes, return to Apps > Apps & Features and Optional Features and you should see OpenSSH listed.

 Note

Installing OpenSSH Server will create and enable a firewall rule named OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP. This allows inbound SSH traffic on port 22. If this rule is not enabled and this port is not open, connections will be refused or reset.

Install OpenSSH using PowerShell

To install OpenSSH using PowerShell, run PowerShell as an Administrator. To make sure that OpenSSH is available, run the following cmdlet:

PowerShell

Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object Name -like 'OpenSSH*'

This should return the following output if neither are already installed:

Name  : OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
State : NotPresent

Name  : OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
State : NotPresent

Then, install the server or client components as needed:

PowerShell

# Install the OpenSSH Client
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

# Install the OpenSSH Server
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0

Both of these should return the following output:

Path          :
Online        : True
RestartNeeded : False

Start and configure OpenSSH Server

To start and configure OpenSSH Server for initial use, open PowerShell as an administrator, then run the following commands to start the sshd service:

PowerShell

# Start the sshd service
Start-Service sshd

# OPTIONAL but recommended:
Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType 'Automatic'

# Confirm the Firewall rule is configured. It should be created automatically by setup. Run the following to verify
if (!(Get-NetFirewallRule -Name "OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object Name, Enabled)) {
    Write-Output "Firewall Rule 'OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP' does not exist, creating it..."
    New-NetFirewallRule -Name 'OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP' -DisplayName 'OpenSSH Server (sshd)' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -Action Allow -LocalPort 22
} else {
    Write-Output "Firewall rule 'OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP' has been created and exists."
}

Connect to OpenSSH Server

Once installed, you can connect to OpenSSH Server from a Windows 10 or Windows Server 2019 device with the OpenSSH client installed using PowerShell as follows. Be sure to run PowerShell as an administrator:

PowerShell

ssh username@servername

Once connected, you get a message similar to the following:

The authenticity of host 'servername (10.00.00.001)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:(<a large string>).
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Selecting yes adds that server to the list of known SSH hosts on your Windows client.

You are prompted for the password at this point. As a security precaution, your password will not be displayed as you type.

Once connected, you will see the Windows command shell prompt:

domain\username@SERVERNAME C:\Users\username>

OpenSSH configuration files

OpenSSH has configuration files for both server and client settings. OpenSSH is open-source and is added to Windows Server and Windows Client operating systems, starting with Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 (build 1809). As a result, documentation for OpenSSH configuration files is not repeated here. Client configuration files and can be found on the ssh_config manual page and for OpenSSH Server configuration files can be found on the sshd_config manual page. Further Windows-specific OpenSSH Server configuration is detailed in OpenSSH Server configuration for Windows.

In Windows, the OpenSSH Client (ssh) reads configuration data from a configuration file in the following order:

1. By launching ssh.exe with the -F parameter, specifying a path to a configuration file and an entry name from that file.
2. A user's configuration file at %userprofile%\.ssh\config.
3. The system-wide configuration file at %programdata%\ssh\ssh_config.

Open SSH Server (sshd) reads configuration data from %programdata%\ssh\sshd_config by default, or a different configuration file may be specified by launching sshd.exe with the -f parameter. If the file is absent, sshd generates one with the default configuration when the service is started.

Uninstall OpenSSH using Windows Settings

To uninstall OpenSSH using Windows Settings:

1. Open Settings, then go to Apps > Apps & Features.
2. Go to Optional Features.
3. In the list, select OpenSSH Client or OpenSSH Server.
4. Select Uninstall.

Uninstall OpenSSH using PowerShell

To uninstall the OpenSSH components using PowerShell, use the following commands:

PowerShell

# Uninstall the OpenSSH Client
Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

# Uninstall the OpenSSH Server
Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0

You may need to restart Windows afterwards if the service was in use at the time it was uninstalled