Connect to your DreamCompute Instance with SSH keys in Windows

To log in, you'll need your User and IP Address of the instance.

• How to find the default user of an image
• Locating IP Address of your instance

A common program for ssh on Windows is PuTTY or putty-nd. If you followed the instructions to create a Key Pair in the DreamCompute panel, you have already downloaded a .pem file. PuTTY requires that you use this .pem file to convert your private key into a .ppk file before it can be used to connect via ssh.

1. Open up the puttygen program. If you don't have it, download it here.
2. You must first set the PPK file version to 2. Click the Key menu.

   

3. From the dropdown select Parameters for saving key files....

   

4. Next to PPK file version, select the number 2.
5. Click the OK button to save. 

   

6. Click the Conversions menu and select Import Key.
7. Browse to the folder that contains the .pem file you downloaded from the DreamCompute dashboard, or the private key you created outside the Dashboard.
8. You can give the key a name in the Key comment field.

   

9. When finished, click the Save private key button to save it into a .ppk file.
   

   A pop-up displays with the following text:

   Are you sure you want to save this key without a passphrase to protect it?

   Click the Yes button to save without a password.

10. Open PuTTY and navigate to Connection > SSH > Auth.

    

11. Click the Browse button near the Private key file for authentication field.
12. Select the .ppk file you generated and then click Open.

    

13. Navigate to the Session category and enter the IP Address of your instance in the Host Name field. In the Saved Sessions field, give this connection a name. For example, dh-compute.
14. Click the Save button on the right to save this session.

    

15. Click the session name you just saved and click the Open button.
16. PuTTY connects to your instance and asks for your username.

    login as:

17. Enter your user and press Enter. You are now logged into the instance.

You may see the following text in your terminal when attempting to connect.

Unable to load key file "C:\Users\username\Documents\dhc-private-key.ppk" 
(PuTTY key format too new)
login as:

If you enter the default username, you'll see this error.

No supported authentication methods available (server sent: publickey)

This error means your private key was saved as version 3. It must be saved as version 2 as shown in step #2 above.