Use the Built-in Windows OpenSSH Client

Windows has shipped a full OpenSSH client since 1809 — no PuTTY needed for everyday SSH.

WindowssshnetworkcliLow risk

Run ssh user@host from any terminal (PowerShell or cmd); keys and config live in %userprofile%\.ssh.

01Command

Command

$ ssh -p 2222 admin@example.com

02What it does

Many Windows users still install PuTTY out of habit, but ssh.exe, scp.exe and sftp.exe have been optional built-ins since Windows 10 1809 and enabled by default on recent builds. It reads the same ~/.ssh/config, id_ed25519 keys, and known_hosts as OpenSSH on Linux, so tooling and CI scripts carry over unchanged. Run ssh -V to confirm the version is present, and ssh-agent runs as a Windows service you can set to Automatic.

03Risk

RiskLow risk

RequirementsOpenSSH Client is a Windows optional feature, enabled by default on Windows 10 1809+/11; verify with ssh -V

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

SSH key management for OpenSSH on Windows
Microsoft Learn · vendor-doc · 2026-09-17
Evidence: Confirms the OpenSSH client ships with Windows, documents its config location (%userprofile%\.ssh) and usage of ssh-keygen and ssh-agent.

Last verified: 2026-09-17 · Category: Developer

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