Which SSH private key format should be used with DO 13.6?

Hi,

create ".ssh" directory if it doesn't exist:

mkdir %USERPROFILE%\.ssh
cd /D %USERPROFILE%\.ssh

Create ED25519 key (is new default by OpenSSH):

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f "userid_AT_target.server"

Convert the private key to PPK format with "winscp":

cd /D C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP
winscp.com /keygen "userid_AT_target.server" "/output=userid_AT_target.server.ppk"

I've used "winscp" because I've found this (old) command line call by the winscp developer somewhere.

Note: I've used winscp 5.11.3 from 2017-12-14 (installed on our company PC) which creates the PPK2 format by default (which DO currently requires!).

It might have changed with the latest release 6 and might create PPK3 file format by default. Please check the command options and adapt the call maybe. I didn't check until yet.

Use the PPK file as private key file in DO SSH connection settings.

This must work. It does work for me (to connect to a Red Hat 9 server).

Of course you can try Putty to convert. I haven't installed nor tried it. I only use the new Windows Terminal for SSH sessions anymore.

I hope this helps.