Setup GitHub SSH key using Windows
GitHub SSH authentification using Windows

This is how I installed Git and authenticated with my GitHub repo using a ssh key using Windows OS
Download and install git
- https://git-scm.com/
Create a folder for a git repo
- Create a folder in your windows system
- Open folder in git by right clicking and selecting git bash

Create a ssh key (Open ssh type)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "AddYourEmail@email.com"
- Follow prompts and save to your .ssh folder
- View and copy your public key you need to add this later
nano <YOUR_LOCATION_YOU_ADDED_ABOVE>/.ssh/github-key.pub
Go to your github security settings
- https://github.com/settings/profile
- Cick SSH and GPG keys
- Click NewSSH key

- Add public key you copied before new SSH key and add add a Title
- Add SSH key
- You should have a success notification
Add your ssh-agent connection to .profile
- Open your git folder using git bash again
- Create a .profile or edit it
nano ~/.profile - Add these contents. Remember to edit to set path to your ssh key!
#! /bin/bash eval `ssh-agent -s` ssh-add ~/.ssh/<ADD_PATH_TO_SSH_KEY>
Add your ssh-agent connection to .bashrc
- You will need to add to bash as well. eg. I am using git terminal in Android studio so I will need to change bashrc
- Create a .bashrc or edit it
nano ~/.bashrc - Add these contents. Remember to edit to set path to your ssh key!
#! /bin/bash eval `ssh-agent -s` ssh-add ~/.ssh/<ADD_PATH_TO_SSH_KEY> - Restart the app that you are using git cli
- You should see something like
Agent pid XXXX Identity added: xxxxxxxxx - Go to one of your repos and fetch remote repo by running
git fetch - This should fetch contents without asking for key or ssh agent
Credits
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3669001/getting-ssh-agent-to-work-with-git-run-from-windows-command-shell/15870387#15870387
- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18404272/running-ssh-agent-when-starting-git-bash-on-windows
- https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/connecting-to-github-with-ssh/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent
- Create ssh key
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Feel free to comment with questions or feedback✌️
Happy coding,
Az 👨🏾💻
About the author
Software engineer focusing on PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, CI/CD, GitHub, AWS, Azure & Magento Commerce. I enjoy code for good projects, tech, gym, nature, travel, fried chicken, and coffee.
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