Skip to content

Add ssh-keygen troubleshooting info for Windows #43714

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
Infinitay wants to merge 2 commits into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+8 −0
Open

Add ssh-keygen troubleshooting info for Windows #43714

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
2 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
a720cee
Add ssh-keygen troubleshooting info for Windows
Infinitay Apr 7, 2026
85b03eb
chore: Resolve lint error MD031
Infinitay Apr 7, 2026
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
8 changes: 8 additions & 0 deletions ...g-to-github-with-ssh/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -176,6 +176,14 @@ Before adding a new SSH key to the ssh-agent to manage your keys, you should hav
> ```powershell
> git config --global core.sshCommand "C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe"
> ```
>
> Furthermore, you may need to specify which `ssh-keygen` binary Git should use to avoid conflicts with the binary bundled with Git for Windows. To define which binary is used, run the following command:
>
> ```powershell
> git config --global gpg.ssh.program "C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh-keygen.exe"
> ```
>
> Alternatively, you can re-install Git for Windows and select the "Use external OpenSSH" option during the installation process.
Comment on lines +179 to +186
Copy link

Copilot AI Apr 7, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

git config --global gpg.ssh.program ... only affects Git’s SSH-based signing/verification (when gpg.format=ssh), not which ssh-keygen is used for SSH authentication or for generating keys. In this “SSH agent conflicts” troubleshooting section, this reads like it will resolve git push/agent passphrase prompts, which it won’t. Consider either removing this paragraph, or explicitly scoping it to SSH commit/tag signing (and linking to the SSH signing docs), and keeping the agent-conflict guidance focused on core.sshCommand/which ssh.exe Git uses.

Suggested change
>
> Furthermore, you may need to specify which `ssh-keygen` binary Git should use to avoid conflicts with the binary bundled with Git for Windows. To define which binary is used, run the following command:
> ```powershell
> git config --global gpg.ssh.program "C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh-keygen.exe"
> ```
> Alternatively, you can re-install Git for Windows and select the "Use external OpenSSH" option during the installation process.
>
> Alternatively, you can reinstall Git for Windows and select the "Use external OpenSSH" option during installation.

Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes.
Copy link

Copilot AI Apr 7, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

The installer option name is a UI element; per the docs style guide, it should be formatted in bold rather than in quotation marks (for example, Use external OpenSSH).

Suggested change
> Alternatively, you can re-install Git for Windows and select the "Use external OpenSSH" option during the installation process.
> Alternatively, you can re-install Git for Windows and select the **Use external OpenSSH** option during the installation process.

Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes.


{% endwindows %}
Expand Down
Loading