Using git with ssh-agent on Windows

Question

I'm on Windows. I installed git and posh-git (some helpers for Windows PowerShell). I can add keys with ssh-add and can authenticate with github and my webserver. I can also use git from the PowerShell to interact with my repositories.

But there is one thing I can't do: I use git-plus for the Atom editor. And I don't get it to push to my repo. What is my problem?

Answer 1

posh-git and git for windows 2.7 should include everything you need to setup an ssh-agent. Once you have the module installed you can start the agent using something like:

Import-Module ~\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\posh-git\posh-git Set-Alias ssh-agent "$env:ProgramFiles\git\usr\bin\ssh-agent.exe" Set-Alias ssh-add "$env:ProgramFiles\git\usr\bin\ssh-add.exe" Start-SshAgent -Quiet 

You then should see the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environmental variable is set:

C:\Code\Go\src\bosun.org\cmd\scollector [master]> gci env:SSH_AUTH_SOCK  Name                           Value ----                           ----- SSH_AUTH_SOCK                  /tmp/ssh-6ORcVQvRBZ2e/agent.11668 

Which the git-plus atom package should be able to use when you run commands. I was able to use Ctrl+Shift+H to bring up the git menu in atom, select push, and then push to a remote repo (not it doesn't display errors if it fails, but the new branch I pushed was there).

The ssh-agent needs to be started BEFORE you open atom so that the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environmental variable is set. If it still doesn't work you may want to test ssh in PowerShell to verify that it can connect without a password:

Set-Alias ssh "$env:ProgramFiles\git\usr\bin\ssh.exe" ssh hostname 

Answer 2

You can get the ssh-agent running using the command that comes with Git for Windows in powershell:

 start-ssh-agent.cmd 

That will start up the ssh-agent.

Then you can add your key with

 ssh-add ~/.ssh/namneOfPrivateKey 

Found that here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/use-ssh-keys-to-authenticate?view=azure-devops