OpenSSH for Windows





The OpenSSH website is located at www.openssh.com





This website hosts a Windows installer package of Openssh for Windows that is actively maintained and current.



The sshwindows package hasn't been maintained for a long time and is woefully out of date. I've been rolling my own versions of this installer for quite a while and figured others might find this useful as well.



I'll walk you through installation and setup of the OpenSSH package for Windows. First download the latest version (or the version of your choice), and head to the bottom of the page for a quick walk-thru



If you are looking for OpenSSH binaries for Windows 2000, XP, or 2003, head over to the OpenSSH installers for Windows 2000/XP/2003 page for links to the latest binaries that will work with those particular operating systems.



If you are looking for older OpenSSH binaries that have been hosted on this site in the past, head over to the older OpenSSH installer page.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As was pointed out, the Windows OpenSSH installer could be even more useful to people if it had additional language support. To contribute, download Descriptions.zip. Open the zip and edit Descriptions.nsi and email the updated language descriptions (Descriptions.nsi) to me at admin<AT>mls-software.com with a note as to how you would like to be credited and I'll get that included in the release. First to respond will get the credit, and I'll cross languages off the list as they come in. Based on the download history, the following countries primary languages would be the most useful: China, Japan, India, Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands. Languages currently supported: German - creopard.de, Danish - Tox, Portuguese (Brazil) - HackerOrientado, Spanish - zaquintar, French - MirrorBrain, Chinese_Simple - Wair56. Thanks for your help. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOTE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





New Version OpenSSH 8.3p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 8.3p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) I have updated the libraries I'm using so now Chinese and Russian language translations should show up correctly.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 8.3p1-1 setupssh-8.3p1-1.exe

SHA1=e6a5b9d5a514cd5a9236ab746c8dc497a47d1cf1 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.83p1-1.zip

SHA1=9e4e38901f9b89a17478ba59186bff54abed9daf cygwin_source.64.83p1-1.zip

SHA1=94e598d29f2744fa825786805abb14baf8f369bf (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.83p1-1.zip

SHA1=6466b403394fd98de01fbd32d5bfa924f7d29356

Older Versions OpenSSH 8.2p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 8.2p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) I also missed a file last time that caused you not to be able to connect to the sshd service running on your Windows system - that has been remedied (cygwin-console-helper.exe). I had hoped to fix Chinese and Russian language translations so they showed up correctly, however, there are some bugs in the unicode library that I updated/ported that I haven't fixed yet. Thanks to the Simon H. who sent me some clues on how to fix that issue. I should hopefully have this fixed by next rev.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 8.2p1-1 setupssh-8.2p1-1.exe

SHA1=6d423cf4b01332a84bdf558fa6f57105122139ee (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.82p1-1.zip

SHA1=49733708b9b6e15fc9b634544236502134687ce6 cygwin_source.64.82p1-1.zip

SHA1=469acd08d163dfb1da13cc511b917e9684defd0f (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.82p1-1.zip

SHA1=997e3517ff934f6f2d41893704add7ed730eed43

OpenSSH 8.1p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 8.1p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) I tweaked the default firewall rules based on a suggestion from John B. Please note - for some reason the Chinese and Russian language translations aren't showing up in my drop down for languages. If anybody knows how to fix that...I'd take a hint. Also, the Russian language translations don't show up as Russian characters, I have strange symbols - as such, I don't know that the file I was provided actually is correct. Any Russian speakers care to review the Decriptions.nsi from the source file and provide some verification or update that would be appreciated. I use Notepad++ as my editor so please check out that file with that editor. Thanks!

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 8.1p1-1 setupssh-8.1p1-1.exe

SHA1=9d6e5f5e36899ec4e8391c368c496796b36c8a62 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.81p1-1.zip

SHA1=1787f3f2de09b55d2904cfd6041040e9c327a56c cygwin_source.64.81p1-1.zip

SHA1=8fcdfaf65bd655b7e64789f80da0ca406b07e5d8 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.81p1-1.zip

SHA1=de054b8dc29bf19407be14f49dea5859c3d85937

OpenSSH 8.0p1-2

This is an updated OpenSSH 8.0p1-2 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) I incorporated some suggestions from Bill S. Russian langauge translations added (anonymous contributor). Please note - for some reason the Chinese and Russian language translations aren't showing up in my drop down for languages. If anybody knows how to fix that...I'd take a hint. Also, the Russian language translations don't show up as Russian characters, I have strange symbols - as such, I don't know that the file I was provided actually is correct. Any Russian speakers care to review the Decriptions.nsi from the source file and provide some verification or update that would be appreciated. I use Notepad++ as my editor so please check out that file with that editor. Thanks!

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 8.0p1-2 setupssh-8.0p1-2.exe

SHA1=4cdf9628aab704f2b086008857430456b2333a35 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.80p1-2.zip

SHA1=f3a73942fd957576f044df52c0cb51e9cbad5f42 cygwin_source.64.80p1-2.zip

SHA1=b59ead95617474047680bad22b553ad31400cd9a (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.80p1-2.zip

SHA1=55622d5efc5614720001d9033f93621710aa68fe

OpenSSH 7.9p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.9p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) No new languages this release - more languages would be welcome.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.9p1-1 setupssh-7.9p1-1.exe

SHA1=64425b56f890cbf51ddf4a9292b02b06df70487e (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.79p1-1.zip

SHA1=ceb6f1a8669f5693ac483c542cde7789f9bf5727 cygwin_source.64.79p1-1.zip

SHA1=53f63865032025785bc3ade8801f4a1d95e91d82 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.79p1-1.zip

SHA1=6294c1741e30155adce2071f61c2bc419eb953e0

OpenSSH 7.8p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.8p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) No new languages this release - more languages would be welcome.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.8p1-1 setupssh-7.8p1-1.exe

SHA1=ef12f4c3148e95134614e2dd0a2b71cedb545027 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.78p1-1.zip

SHA1=f9aa5f8fb2cd4d98f3974ceedc7bb0e8287d5717 cygwin_source.64.78p1-1.zip

SHA1=d1dc693ce9fce626b1490f2a553391af3faa25a8 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.78p1-1.zip

SHA1=70b71a8f9f8b3cab7a3e739d77026a75ec69227c

OpenSSH 7.7p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.7p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. The random password that is generated WILL NOT work with Windows Server causing the service to be unable to start - you MUST REPLACE THAT PASSWORD WITH SOMETHING THAT MEETS THE COMPLEXITY REQUIREMENTS OF A SERVER. Frankly, that password should be replaced in all cases...but people tend to be lazy :-) Finally, this release includes language support for Simplified Chinese - more languages would be welcome.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.7p1-1 setupssh-7.7p1-1.exe

SHA1=ec1e5644314a335b70b45bb6254ec63b8bd50dcb (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.77p1-1.zip

SHA1=40f715eaedcdd0a22787e22b9e1dbdb59b8ca93a cygwin_source.64.77p1-1.zip

SHA1=b09ffd951f53b167d5130aca325035a5ce99232e (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.77p1-1.zip

SHA1=7c8c95be73ad1d97b2b03e98aeaf7757ea026b95

OpenSSH 7.6p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.6p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. There was a major change to this release - for security reasons the password associated with the sshd_server account is randomly generated (instead of D0ntGu3$$M3). You may change the password during the install process, but it was brought to my attention that many people probably weren't changing the D0ntGu3$$M3 password and that was of course a HUGE security risk. Finally, this release includes language support for Spanish and French - more languages would be welcome.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.6p1-1 setupssh-7.6p1-1.exe

SHA1=31cdffb879ab73c8ecbcbccab6f3c0f882ab6548 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.76p1-1.zip

SHA1=42dbdbc82cca7471b88c422164b911c0951136e5 cygwin_source.64.76p1-1.zip

SHA1=4a7dbecfa83bfa87e3005ee6a811b590c24fbf37 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.76p1-1.zip

SHA1=8409388f0d3ca1c1402d99d2f111ea84bb0dfae9

OpenSSH 7.5p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.5p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. There was a major change to this release - for security reasons the server (sshd) MUST run with privilege seperation. As such, the installer and sshd_config file were updated to support this change. This brings with it a caveat - the installer has a default password for the sshd_server account (which is required for privilege seperation) - the password is D0ntGu3$$M3. YOU MUST PICK YOUR OWN PASSWORD FOR YOUR SYSTEM IF YOU ARE USING THE SERVER. I also changed the installer to install the server by default UNLESS you specify only the client via the installer or via a /clientonly=1 if you are using the command line switches. The rysnc command was also added to the binary directory. The final change was the removal of the pop-up windows that showed up during install - this change has been requested in the past and was requested again -- I have removed the windows as they just clutter things up. Finally, this release includes language support for German, Danish, and Portuguese (Brazil) - more languages would be welcome.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.5p1-1 setupssh-7.5p1-1.exe

SHA1=199ad10d578075dfe9651daa53e6f93cf6254486 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.75p1-1.zip

SHA1=0f458482df2da43e79327f1fb28a83fd8263e0b8 cygwin_source.64.75p1-1.zip

SHA1=3d66606d20bb3b4b2e0a5c902978b9d2a7787b48 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.75p1-1.zip

SHA1=ccc1a10f0565b1579cc6124082a48ffda2d24d98

OpenSSH 7.4p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.4p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. This release includes language support for German and Danish - more languages would be welcome. Includes a fix to the x86 install directory.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.4p1-1 setupssh-7.4p1-1.exe

SHA1=245a5999d3f4c944c7a0d7fbf460450f91efa6d9 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.74p1-1.zip

SHA1=cc1b4228d2ad410d1c35c4332d186d3b3f94bb4b cygwin_source.64.74p1-1.zip

SHA1=1b80feab0a0551052ab06dd420755104ccfcf52c (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.74p1-1.zip

SHA1=c3a2b9fc008302d78d24fb2f5271ab977ef8fc95

OpenSSH 7.3p1-2

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.3p1-2 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. This includes a small fix to the uninstall $INSTDIR variable so a user selected installation directory is used (Thanks Jacob T for pointing out the error).

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.3p1-1 setupssh-7.3p1-2.exe

SHA1=d2e8779040ad3e0c932f66bef03bc97a8f5bdda2 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.73p1-2.zip

SHA1=1ee0c9cc3d5588cb544922e237b73cec738081a6 cygwin_source.64.73p1-2.zip

SHA1=ce9205bab22dab8f3d31e2711d2e3840bd4996ec (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.73p1-2.zip

SHA1=9b2872d248df358a3783a0436c952b7e5088f0e7

OpenSSH 7.3p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.3p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. This includes a small fix to the silent install $INSTDIR variable so a user selected installation directory is not overwritten.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.3p1-1 setupssh-7.3p1-1.exe

SHA1=ff5f2ea18e9f2728a2944e4d0940a68706aaf096 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.73p1-1.zip

SHA1=3634a90a51bc850b75b80b44ec9f7e8adfdb73fd cygwin_source.64.73p1-1.zip

SHA1=749adcd99673e20eaad52978084c886cd87eea4f (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.73p1-1.zip

SHA1=e416082bdc85633f2f9842992e7b4fd7df9cc5fa

OpenSSH 7.2p2-1-v1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.2p2-1-v1 installer (no changes to the version of OpenSSH) for both x86 and x64 binaries. I included an incorrect cygwin1.dll for x64 builds causing both ls.exe and mv.exe to fail.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.2p2-1-v1 setupssh-7.2p2-1-v1.exe

SHA1=4eff121021e5551dc762db3fb6d82ad9a989c2b5 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.72p2-1-v1.zip

SHA1=50e22b1e6c365345e22c4b75f94a286d0557493f cygwin_source.64.72p2-1-v1.zip

SHA1=1cfff3a5f65166652c02a8f5247fe9936efe9f85 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.72p2-1-v1.zip

SHA1=9a4c14b4d0c2e89dbd1d7cc1030093525cb8b5e9

OpenSSH 7.2p2-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.2p2-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.2p2-1 setupssh-7.2p2-1.exe

SHA1=5cf36aa793c0116d9bba765ae6152531e14772f4 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.72p2-1.zip

SHA1=982f7a1067da70928fb2cccc6fd5ada57a192734 cygwin_source.64.72p2-1.zip

SHA1=5070caf339ae81ab6379deee2696e84fe343d72e (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.72p2-1.zip

SHA1=cbd868e9517ca4ef334f319e86c2099e04fc6e5b

OpenSSH 7.2p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.2p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. I made a couple small tweaks - spaces are allowed in the service password and using large passwords should not cause a prompt.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.2p1-1 setupssh-7.2p1-1.exe

SHA1=a2b26af4613e66ca3d779c9bf1eb7f787ada6c69 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.72p1-1.zip

SHA1=909e221c6d8c25937882650720b3f9489bef1322 cygwin_source.64.72p1-1.zip

SHA1=dc8dbb0c5cb068e733625625fbaecbbbd6312cac (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.72p1-1.zip

SHA1=54f38a2fc84b5fb7c17316c0b54a057570248fe1

OpenSSH 7.1p2-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.1p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries. I also took this opportunity to clean up the files to only the minimal dependencies. Let me know if you run into any missing file warnings.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.1p2-1 setupssh-7.1p2-1.exe

SHA1=2f304d562e8b9c7c81c0fac80fa939c730165b53 (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.71p2-1.zip

SHA1=4de4bb82937b46bf8964b4c9a47b346dbac5eb54 cygwin_source.64.71p2-1.zip

SHA1=9a0f7b94e1686458e310dc72df8436e49d24c6a7 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.71p2-1.zip

SHA1=6493ce40ac5c89df836fff128132e54a9cd0438e

OpenSSH 7.1p1-1

This is an updated OpenSSH 7.1p1-1 installer for both x86 and x64 binaries.

Version Windows x86 Windows x64 OpenSSH 7.1p1-1 setupssh-7.1p1-1.exe

SHA1=131e027050fb8b985f564e6b5c3b0d054d703dbb (Optional) Cygwin Source Files cygwin_source.32.71p1-1.zip

SHA1=e5ba369adeb9edadae40a749373eb16ae9f1341a cygwin_source.64.71p1-1.zip

SHA1=d94b3d9a56a7741aa130af6a7157b64ade0d9c40 (Optional) Installer Source Files installer_source_files.71p1-1.zip

SHA1=26d70ce5da4961b5a13af2aa3d5b9b384ad214be

Once you've downloaded the executable, start it up to be greeted with the OpenSSH splash screen followed by the welcome and license screen. You can select the defaults all the way through the installation process if desired - these should work for most intallations:



The first point where you get to make some choices is the choose component dialog.







Select

Client - to install the ssh client command line tools (if you want to connect to other ssh servers

Server - to install the ssh server command line application (if you want to provide an ssh server for others to connect to)

Start Menu Shortcuts - a few start menu shortcuts



The next screen that requires some explanation is the "Choose account under which to execute SSHD". The SSH Daemon (SSHD) can run as either Local_System or SSHD_Server. If you are using Windows Server (2003/2008/2008R2/etc.) you will likely have to run this as SSHD_Server, however all others should be able to run this as Local_System. The default password that is filled in for you is "D0ntGu3$$M3" - I would recommend changing it! You can change this later by using the Services Control Panel.







If you choose "Run as SSHD_Server", then you will be presented with the privilege seperation option.

In general, it should be OK to not use priviledge seperation unless you are running Windows 2003.









If you are running the sshd server, select the port. The default port for ssh is 22, however you may select whatever you want (but then you'll have to pass that in as on -p option when you connect)









You may now select the keysize. The default keysize of 2048 is probably sufficient, however if you are truly concerned about your network privacy 4096 would be a good next choice.







You can configure ssh for either local users or domain users. This determines how the password file is setup and you should probably choose Local users.









OpenSSH will begin to install and configure itself for your system.



At this point, openssh is setup and configured for your system. To try this out, open up a command prompt (cmd.exe) and try:

ssh -v (For OpenSSH 6.3 and below)

ssh -V (For OpenSSH 6.4 and above)

which will show you the version information.







If you installed the openssh server, it will start automatically after the installation completes.





You may also open up a command prompt with administrator priviledges and try:

net start opensshd

which should cause the opensshd daemon service to start



To stop the service (if/when you want to):

net stop opensshd

You can also stop/start the openssh service from the Services control panel applet.



If you experience problems with the service, look in /var/log as it might have a clue why the service is failing to start.







The original source code for sshwindows came from SourceForge.net.









