How do I load an existing public and private key pair into SSH?

Question

I have a SSH public and private key pair (files) from a previous Linux installation along with the corresponding pass phrase:

~/id_rsa.pub
~/id_rsa.ppk

When I try to add the private key I get a warning message:

$ ssh-add id_rsa.ppk
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@         WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!          @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Permissions 0444 for 'id_rsa.ppk' are too open.
It is required that your private key files are NOT accessible by others.
This private key will be ignored.

What is the correct way to do this? I am using Linux Mint 18.1.

Update I found a solution on this page: https://superuser.com/questions/232362/how-to-convert-ppk-key-to-openssh-key-under-linux

A .ppk file is probably a PuTTY private key file - the format is different from that used by OpenSSH. You can use PuTTY's puttygen to convert to an OpenSSH compatible format. — steeldriver, Apr 06 '17 at 13:35
I found a solution on this page: https://superuser.com/questions/232362/how-to-convert-ppk-key-to-openssh-key-under-linux — gornvix, Apr 06 '17 at 13:54
Also related: What permissions should each file under .ssh have? and Error: permission denied through ssh. — G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica', Apr 07 '17 at 03:23

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 06 '17 at 13:34

5

Fix the permissions (by removing group and world permissions altogether):

chmod go= ~/id_rsa.ppk

then add it:

ssh-add ~/id_rsa.ppk

answered Apr 06 '17 at 13:34

Jeff Schaller

67,283
35
116
255

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 06 '17 at 15:15

0

The standard permissions for SSH files in your ~/.ssh directory are:

~/.ssh: 700

id_rsa : 600

id_rsa.pub: 644

authorized_keys: 644

answered Apr 06 '17 at 15:15

bretonics

215

How do I load an existing public and private key pair into SSH?

2 Answers2