Installing SFTP/SSH Server on Windows using OpenSSH

• Download the latest OpenSSH for Windows binaries (package OpenSSH-Win64.zip or OpenSSH-Win32.zip)
• As the Administrator, extract the package to C:\Program Files\OpenSSH
• As the Administrator, install sshd and ssh-agent services:
  powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install-sshd.ps1

• Allow incoming connections to SSH server in Windows Firewall:
  • Either run the following PowerShell command (Windows 8 and 2012 or newer only), as the Administrator:
    New-NetFirewallRule -Name sshd -DisplayName 'OpenSSH SSH Server' -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -Action Allow -LocalPort 22
  • or go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Firewall1 > Advanced Settings > Inbound Rules and add a new rule for port 22.
• Start the service and/or configure automatic start:
  • Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools and open Services. Locate OpenSSH SSH Server service.
  • If you want the server to start automatically when your machine is started: Go to Action > Properties. In the Properties dialog, change Startup type to Automatic and confirm.
  • Start the OpenSSH SSH Server service by clicking the Start the service.

These instructions are partially based on the official deployment instructions.

Follow a generic guide for Setting up SSH public key authentication in *nix OpenSSH server, with the following difference:

• Create the .ssh folder (for the authorized_keys file) in your Windows account profile folder (typically in C:\Users\username\.ssh).2
• For permissions to .ssh folder and authorized_keys file, what matters are Windows ACL permissions, not simple *nix permissions. Set the ACL so that only a respective Windows account have a write access to the folder and the file (what is the default access level, if you create the folder and the file, while logged in using the respective account).

The SSHD service can be enabled from the Services console (Start Menu > type in Services), or from the command line as shown below:

C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH>net start sshd
The OpenSSH SSH Server service is starting..
The OpenSSH SSH Server service was started successfully.

Before the first connection, find out fingerprint of the server’s ED25519 key by running .\ssh-keygen.exe -l -f "%ProgramData%\ssh\ssh_host_ed25519_key" -E md5 from the OpenSSH installation folder (%WINDIR%\System32\OpenSSH or C:\Program Files\OpenSSH), as the Administrator (with PowerShell, use $env:ProgramData instead of %ProgramData%):

C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH>.\ssh-keygen.exe -l -f "%ProgramData%\ssh\ssh_host_ed25519_key" -E md5
256 MD5:0d:df:0a:db:b4:e9:f1:08:d5:59:2b:91:8e:08:1c:78 martin@example (ED25519)

Start WinSCP. Login dialog will appear. On the dialog:

• Make sure New site node is selected.
• On New site node, make sure the SFTP protocol is selected.
• Enter your machine/server IP address (or a hostname) into the Host name box.
• Enter your Windows account name to the User name box. It might have to be entered in the format user@domain, if running on a domain.
• For a public key authentication:
  • Press the Advanced button to open Advanced site settings dialog and go to SSH > Authentication page.
  • In Private key file box select your private key file.
  • Submit Advanced site settings dialog with the OK button.
• For a password authentication:
  • Enter your Windows account password to the Password box.
  • If you Windows account does not have a password, you cannot authenticate with the password authentication (i.e. with an empty password), you need to use the public key authentication.
• Save your site settings using the Save button.
• Login using Login button.
• Verify the host key by comparing fingerprint with the one collected before (see above).

If you cannot authenticate to the server, and you are using Windows 10 Developer mode, make sure that your OpenSSH server does not conflict with an internal SSH server used by the Developer mode. You may need to turn off the SSH Server Broker and SSH Server Proxy Windows services. Or run your OpenSSH server on a different port than 22.

• Guide to Installing Secure FTP Server on Windows using IIS;
• Guide to uploading files to SFTP server;
• Guide to automating operations (including upload).