SSH keys too short for Bitbucket: how to fix? (using sourcetree on windows)

Question

So I am using sourcetree app and I'm using this guide (click here) for instructions on how to create a public key on my Windows machine.

When I copy the public key from Putty Key Generator into the SSH keys setting of Bitbucket, Bitbucket it complaining it's too short.

Looking back at Putty Key Generator, I am supposedly using 1024 bits.

I did notice that the public keys I'm seeing from the Putty app is much shorter than the ones I've gotten via ssh-keygen on my Mac/Ubuntu machines.

Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Thank you

Answer 1

I had the same problem.What i had to do was to change the number of bits at the very bottom..from 1024 to 2048.Then when I copied and add the new key to bitbucket it was long enough..

Answer 2

To generate your key, use <path\to\git>\usr\bin\ssh-keygen.exe, packaged with git-for-windows/git latest release:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -f %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa -C "key for GitLab access" -q -P ""

That will generate a correct key, without passphrase (at least for testing).
Make sure you don't need id_rsa(.pub) in your %USERPROFILE%\.ssh folder, if you had those keys before using the command above.