Creating a SSH key with ssh-keygen does not create the .ssh folder

Question

I am trying to create my public/private rsa key pair with msysgit

I run this command:

ssh-keygen -C "email@email.com" -t rsa

Everything looks fine, I have the message

Enter file in which to save the key (/c/Users/user/.ssh/id_rsa)

Then I have the confirmation:

Your public key has been saved in project.pub

But I can't access the folder! It does not exist, it is not even an hidden folder. I don't understand why it does not generate. I am using Windows 7 Ultimate.

more than that. If you create folder - keys not appears after successful generating. Has you resolved you problem? Stuck the same now — iamthevoid, Aug 24 '18 at 11:37
If you enter `project` as your file, this file gets created in your current directory. If you want it inside the .ssh folder, either `cd` inside or enter the full path. — Ophidian, Sep 01 '18 at 13:43

VonC · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-21T14:51:36.527

You can start with creating the expected folder, and check you can access it:

mkdir "%USERPROFILE%\.ssh"
dir "%USERPROFILE%\.ssh"
cd "%USERPROFILE%\.ssh"

Make sure you do not have a Windows environment variable named HOME, which would take precedence when using ssh.exe or ssh-keygen.exe commands from a CMD session (as opposed to a bash session).

echo HOME='%HOME%'

You can use (from CMD or bash)

ssh-keygen -C "vonc@xxxx" -t rsa -P "" -f ~/.ssh/mykey
                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

That will create a %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\mykey and %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\mykey.pub.

As a test, I just created my key without any problem (Seven Ultimate 64bits, msysgit 1.6.5.1.1367.gcd48)

$ ssh-keygen -C "vonc@xxxx" -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/c/Users/VonC/.ssh/id_rsa):# just press enter
                                                                # to accept the
                                                                # default location
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):                     
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /c/Users/VonC/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /c/Users/VonC/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc:... vonc@xxxx

With the result:

VonC@P ~/.ssh
$ ls -alrt
total 10
-rw-r--r--    1 VonC Administ      642 May 23 21:47 known_hosts
drwxr-xr-x   43 VonC Administ    16384 Jun 15 17:01 ..
-rw-r--r--    1 VonC Administ      398 Jun 19 16:14 id_rsa.pub
-rw-r--r--    1 VonC Administ     1675 Jun 19 16:14 id_rsa
drwxr-xr-x    2 VonC Administ        0 Jun 19 16:14 .

Could you check in your bash session (so not CMD) what value your $HOME environment variable is set?

VonC@P ~/.ssh
$ env|grep HOME
HOMEPATH=\Users\VonC
HOME=/c/Users/VonC     # <=== this must be correctly set
HOMEDRIVE=C:

Thanks VonC, you made me realized that my error was that I was typing a name when I was asked to enter file in which to save the key. I just hitted Enter and it generated id_rsa and id_rsa.pub files. Now it works perfectly — Charles Ouellet, Jun 19 '10 at 22:29
@couellet: thank you for this feedback. I have edited my answer to reflect it. — VonC, Jun 19 '10 at 22:33
Check if the .ssh is not a symlink (Mackup and others do this for backups). — Entalpi, Mar 04 '16 at 14:53

score 37 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 15 '16 at 15:56

37

I had the same problem and I realized I was trying to enter a file name when it asks for the following "Enter file in which to save the key (c/users/user.name/.ssh/id_rsa)"

Rather just enter nothing and press Enter key to use the default and you will move on.

answered Jan 15 '16 at 15:56

Amit

559
5
8

16

I realized it requires full path, not just a name, otherwise file will be created at the cmd current working directory. Moreover if you type name only, you will see in summary default path "bla bla saved in /c/Users/{UserName}/.ssh/id_rsa_name" – CeH9 Jul 05 '18 at 07:53
@CeH9 - FWIW, when I made the mistake of typing name only, it *did not* give the full path; it just said ".. saved in myfilename." [If I hit enter to accept the default path, *then* it has the full path to that default location.] – ToolmakerSteve Feb 28 '19 at 03:12

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 27 '19 at 14:59

I faced a similar issue while creating a SSH key and I resolved it this way.

When you use ssh-keygen -t rsa to generate a SSH key and it prompts you to

Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/iamarasekera/.ssh/id_rsa):

Do not give any file name. Instead, just press "Enter" key and go ahead.

Then it will create .ssh folder and inside that folder it will generate the 2 files id_rsa and id_rsa.pub.

You will also see the message Created directory '/<path to your current folder>/.ssh'. on your command prompt.

Next, it will prompt you toEnter passphraseand you better not skip it.

Check this out for your reference.

Note: If you enter a file name when it prompts you to enter a file name to save the key it creates 2 file as <filename> and <filename>.pub inside the directory where you are currently located without creating a .ssh folder.

Hope this helps.

i was wondering why it was not creating anything lol. this explains , thnks — Abhishek Sengupta, Dec 22 '20 at 11:11
`inside the directory where you are currently located without creating a .ssh folder.` is the magic phrase here — DiskJunky, Mar 11 '22 at 15:14

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 22 '19 at 15:01

If you already have a key called "id_rsa" and you want to save a new one in a different name, you need to provide the whole path, if I understood it. So when it asks:

Enter file in which to save the key (/c/Users/myname/.ssh/id_rsa):

You can type /c/Users/myname/.ssh/new_key and it will be created (I just tested).

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 28 '22 at 13:43

I faced similar situation, Solution that worked for me has been described below.

When following message comes while creating the key -

Enter file in which to save the key (C:\Users\aditya/.ssh/id_rsa):

Just Press Enter Here , do not provide any filename else the key will get created in your Present Working Directory.

Bala · Answer 6 · 2022-07-24T07:22:00.843

1

The filename alone is not enough!

you need to specify full path. For your requirement

/c/Users/user/.ssh/project

Otherwise, your keys will be stored in the current directory of the command prompt.

For example, if you were running from /c/project your keys will be stored /c/project/project and /c/project/project.pub

edited Jul 24 '22 at 07:22

answered Jul 24 '22 at 07:16

Bala

913
9
18

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 24 '14 at 11:04

0

This worked for me.. Refer link below

http://ekawas.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/solving-pesky-ssh-issues-in-cygwin.html

edit the passwd file in c:/cygwin64/etc. Open it with wordpad

edit home/YOUR_NAME to /cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/YOUR_NAME

answered Feb 24 '14 at 11:04

Aparna

753
6
10

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 28 '21 at 14:25

0

This is late but I after the solutions provided here didn't make a change, I simply ran Git Bash as administrator. It worked as expected this way.

answered Nov 28 '21 at 14:25

E. B.

1

Creating a SSH key with ssh-keygen does not create the .ssh folder

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