Complete guide to setup Git using SSH on Windows

git-ssh-setup-windows.md

🛠 Complete Guide: Set Up Git with SSH on Windows

✅ 1. Generate an SSH Key (ED25519 Recommended)

Open PowerShell and run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

• Press Enter to accept the default location: C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\id_ed25519
• Add a strong passphrase (recommended) or leave blank

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✅ 2. Start the SSH Agent and Add Your Key

Start-Service ssh-agent
ssh-add $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519

You should see:

Identity added: C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\id_ed25519

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✅ 3. Make ssh-agent Start Automatically on Boot

Set-Service -Name ssh-agent -StartupType Automatic

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✅ 4. Add the SSH Public Key to GitHub (Authentication + Signing)

📌 Copy Your Public Key to Clipboard

Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | Set-Clipboard

🔐 A. Add as Authorization Key

1. Go to: https://github.com/settings/ssh
2. Click "New SSH key"
3. In the "Title" field, enter: Authentication Key
4. In the "Key type" dropdown, select: Authentication Key
5. In the textarea, paste the key using Ctrl + V
6. Click "Add SSH key"

🖊️ B. Add as Signing Key

1. Click "New SSH key" again
2. Title: Signing Key
3. Key type: select Signing Key from the dropdown
4. Paste the same key again using Ctrl + V
5. Click "Add SSH key"

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✅ 5. Set Up Git to Use SSH Instead of HTTPS

A. When Cloning New Repositories

Use the SSH URL:

git clone git@github.com:your-username/your-repo.git

B. For Existing Repositories

Update the remote URL:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:your-username/your-repo.git

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✅ 6. Force Git to Use Windows OpenSSH (Fix Passphrase Prompt Issue)

Git for Windows uses its own SSH client by default.

Set Git to use the Windows OpenSSH client:

git config --global core.sshCommand "C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe"

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✅ 7. Test Everything

A. SSH to GitHub

ssh -T git@github.com

Expected output:

Hi your-username! You've successfully authenticated...

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✅ 8. Enable Verified Commit Signing with SSH (Git ≥ 2.34)

A. Configure Git to Sign Using SSH Key

git config --global gpg.format ssh
git config --global user.signingkey "$env:USERPROFILE\\.ssh\\id_ed25519.pub"
git config --global commit.gpgsign true

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🎉 Done

You now have:

• ✅ SSH access to GitHub (no tokens/passwords)
• 🔐 Passphrase-free push/pull via ssh-agent
• 🧾 Verified commits with SSH signing