Installation

Windows

There is no SSH connection tool preinstalled on Windows, but a Windows binary for the OpenSSH tool, the popular SSH tool on many Linux distributions is also available (although it might be one or two versions behind the Linux build).

  1. Download the latest OpenSSH for Windows from https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/tags. (either as *.msi or zip-archive).

  2. Follow installation instructions on https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/wiki/Install-Win32-OpenSSH.

    Hint

    Alternatively, you may install OpenSSH via winget:

    C:\> winget install "openssh beta"

Linux

OpenSSH is pre-installed on many Linux distributions. To check that, open a shell windows and run

$ ssh -V

which prints the version of OpenSSH, if installed. If the command is not recognized, you probably need to install an SSH tool. To install OpenSSH, use the package manager (e.g. apt on Ubuntu based Linux):

$ sudo apt install openssh-client
$ sudo apt install openssh-server

Note

OpenSSH provides two installations, one for the Client, one for the server. If you only need to onto another PC, the openssh-client suffices. But if you also want other systems to connect onto your machine, you will also need the openssh-server.

As always, consider upgrading your OpenSSH version:

$ sudo apt upgrade openssh-client
$ sudo apt upgrade openssh-server

macOS

As on Linux, macOS comes with a preinstalled version of OpenSSH, although it might not be the latest version of it (check via ssh -V).

In case, you want to update to a later versions (or, for some reasons, don’t have OpenSSH installed), best use homebrew:

  1. Install Homebrew.

  2. Install OpenSSH (also installs OpenSSL, which is a precondition):

    $ brew install openssh

Hint

To update your OpenSSH version, run:

$ brew upgrade openssh

Hint

It may be, that remote login via SSH or SFTP is deactivated in the system settings. Make sure it is activated.

  1. Go to System Settings ‣ General ‣ Sharing ‣ Advanced

  2. Make sure the Remote Login option is active.

  3. Also select the 🛈 icon and see if the remote login is not limited to certain users.