Cygwin: Run SSH.exe (without cygwin.bat) with a keypair

Question

I have a box I'm trying to create an SSH tunnel to using a keypair without a password. If I run cygwin.exe and generate a keypair without a password using ssh-keygen and put the public key on the server I can use ssh to create a tunnel between the 2 boxes no problem.

My question though is this. Can I do this without having to run cygwin.bat and use ssh.exe directly from a command prompt.

When I try this I am prompted for the user's password and it is not using the keypair. I'm assuming that when I run cygwin.exe it is loading up my usr directory and using the keypair from the .ssh directory and when I run ssh.exe directly it is not loading my usr directory and therefore it is not trying to use the keypair and is prompting me for my password.

How do I solve this problem?

I've been using cygwin based tools (more basic than ssh though) directly for years and didn't event know that there was a "cygwin.exe". — LatinSuD, Jun 03 '11 at 13:32
@LatinSuD - Sorry, it may not be Cygwin.exe, but the Cygwin console is what I mean. (When you double click the Cygwin shortcut after installation) — J.r. Hounddog, Jun 03 '11 at 13:50

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 03 '11 at 14:18

1

In my case it works both ways: through cygwin.bat and directly invoking ssh.exe from cmd.

I suggest this workaround:

cd \cygwin\bin
ssh.exe -i ..\home\Adminstrator\id_rsa user@host

If paths and stuff are correct it must work too.

answered Jun 03 '11 at 14:18

LatinSuD

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Thank you. This is exactly what I wanted. I'd +1 but not enough rep yet on this site. :) – J.r. Hounddog Jun 03 '11 at 14:36

Cygwin: Run SSH.exe (without cygwin.bat) with a keypair

1 Answers1