Configuring git to use Windows's OpenSSH implementation

Short one today. I had one of those moments where I was trying to fix something that wasn’t actually broken, so I’m going to write it down before I make the same mistake again 😅.

With Windows 10 version 1803 (the April 2018 update), Microsoft added a direct implementation of OpenSSH. But if like me (who tends to just use https most of the time) and you’ve just blindly set up git to connect to a repo using ssh it’s most likely using the built-in ssh client.

Let’s skip all the ssh-keygen stuff, as that’s not really relevant at this point. You’ve got your key, the repo has the public key, everything seems to work and yet every time you pull or push you get asked for your password. Frustrating.

First, ensure the ssh-agent is running. You can do it via the Services UI (Win+R: services.msc), or since your most likely already in a command line:

Set-Service ssh-agent -StartupType Automatic

Now add the key to the agent:

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

And here’s the bit that I was missing and was driving me nuts: actually configure git to use the ssh agent you added the key to:

git config --global core.sshComand C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe

It should now no longer keep pestering you for your password.