Setup SSH Authentication for Git Bash on Windows

git-ssh-auth-win-setup.md

Setup SSH Authentication for Git Bash on Windows

Prepararation

0. Create a folder at the root of your user home folder (Example: C:/Users/uname/) called .ssh.
1. Create the following files if they do not already exist (paths begin from the root of your user home folder):
   • .ssh/config
   • .bash_profile
   • .bashrc

Create a New SSH Key

Follow the steps in the section named "Generating a new SSH Key" found in the following documentation from GitHub: Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent

Configure SSH for Git Hosting Server

Add the following text to .ssh/config (.ssh should be found in the root of your user home folder):

Host github.com
 Hostname github.com
 IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Enable SSH Agent Startup Whenever Git Bash is Started

First, ensure that following lines are added to .bash_profile, which should be found in your root user home folder:

test -f ~/.profile && . ~/.profile
test -f ~/.bashrc && . ~/.bashrc

Now, add the following text to .bashrc, which should be found in your root user home folder:

# Start SSH Agent
#----------------------------

SSH_ENV="$HOME/.ssh/environment"

function run_ssh_env {
  . "${SSH_ENV}" > /dev/null
}

function start_ssh_agent {
  echo "Initializing new SSH agent..."
  ssh-agent | sed 's/^echo/#echo/' > "${SSH_ENV}"
  echo "succeeded"
  chmod 600 "${SSH_ENV}"

  run_ssh_env;

  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519;
}

if [ -f "${SSH_ENV}" ]; then
  run_ssh_env;
  ps -ef | grep ${SSH_AGENT_PID} | grep ssh-agent$ > /dev/null || {
    start_ssh_agent;
  }
else
  start_ssh_agent;
fi

Thank you! Worked perfectly!

I have followed these steps, and when I start git bash, I can see it is starting the ssh-agent. But when I perform a git operation (e.g. git clone), the github login dialog pops up and it is not using the ssh key. How do I get git to use the ssh key and not the github login? On the github side, I have added the ssh key as per the github instructions..

Oh i c now.. I need to clone with ssh address not with https.
Thanks for these instructions :)

works with a few changes for bitbucket.org too

I have followed these steps, and when I start git bash, I can see it is starting the ssh-agent. But when I perform a git operation (e.g. git clone), the github login dialog pops up and it is not using the ssh key. How do I get git to use the ssh key and not the github login? On the github side, I have added the ssh key as per the github instructions..

you should use ssh urls of repository, not https one

You instructions worked perfectly for me!
Thanks bsara!!!

This worked well for me. Thanks for sharing

For windows user please add the .bash_profile and.bashrc file in your root directory if not present. And the rest steps remain the same.
Thanks for the solution.

In my case the issue was in the system variables my HOME directory was not pointing to the correct User directory(where the ssh keys are). For Git Bash to be able to authenticate it needs to find your private key that is hosted in C:\Users\YOUR_UESR.ssh but if somehow this is pointing to the incorrect directory you'll end up in situation where you cannot connect.

What helped me to see the issue was running the below command

ssh -vT git@github.com

This command provides a verbose output with debug information that shows up resolved paths in your system. I've noticed the mismatched path that led me to the conclusion something is wrong with my system variables I opened them and saw the issue right away.

you saved my a$$ bro. 🙏🙏🙏

有用。