Confused about which key to use

Hi there, I have set up WinSCP to connect to my Mac using username/password. I would like the extra security of using a public/pvt key. i generated a keypair in both mac OSX and using Putty keygen and saved them as files. I am confused, however about which keys to use where. I don't see a place to enter the keys in WinSCP. Do i have to create a whole new account? Should I be using the keys that my Mac (the server/host) has generated or that putty generated? thanks

Idzi wrote:

I don't see a place to enter the keys in WinSCP.

You must specify path to the private key on the "Session" tab of login dialog.

Should I be using the keys that my Mac (the server/host) has generated or that putty generated? thanks

I does not matter, choose whichever you want. But note that Mac probably generated different format of the private key. So if you what to use the Mac-one, you need to convert it first using Puttygen tool.

Ok, I simply transferred the private key from my MAC to my PC and converted it using Puttygen. Then I saved that private key file and loaded it into my WinSCp session. Everything worked fine and I was able to log on without problems. Does that mean my connection is now encrypted? What does the public key do? Thanks

One other question...under 'server info' at the bottom it says "The server does not support any SFTP extension."...What does that mean exactly?

Anonymous wrote:

Does that mean my connection is now encrypted?

Read F.A.Q.

What does the public key do?

Read chapter Using public keys for SSH authentication from Putty documentation to understand purpose of private/public keys in SSH authentication.

One other question...under 'server info' at the bottom it says "The server does not support any SFTP extension."...What does that mean exactly?

SFTP protocol allows that the server and client may implement additional functions (extensions) above the stardard. Your server does not implement any.