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Using SourceTree For Windows With SSH Keys

Aahan Krish

I'm using SourceTree, the stable release launched yesterday, on my Windows 7 laptop.

I generated the SSH keys using the Putty Key Generator in SourceTree, and saved them to my disk using the "Save public key" and "Save private key" options, as shown below:

Then I closed the window, and tried to import the private *.ppk key from Tools > Launch SSH Agent (Pageant) and selecting the private file. That's where the problem is. It doesn't accept the private key file:

That's the error I get. I am not sure why it's unable to open the private key file. Any idea as to what I could be doing wrong here?

Accepted answers

stevestreeting

Edit: Turns out the problem was saving the ppk in a path which had a space in it, and SourceTree wasn't coping with that properly when launching Pageant. This will be fixed in 0.9.0.2.

Old answer: That looks like entirely the correct process to me. I just repeated this process here and the .ppk I saved loaded back just fine. Are you sure you saved the *private* key as the .ppk? I usually call my public keys '.pub' to differentiate them from the .ppk files, the public keys are just plain text.

All comments

stevestreeting

Edit: Turns out the problem was saving the ppk in a path which had a space in it, and SourceTree wasn't coping with that properly when launching Pageant. This will be fixed in 0.9.0.2.

Aahan Krish

Yes. The private file was saved with a .ppk extension. I don't think it'll work, but I'll reinstall sourcetree and see.

Aahan Krish

UPDATE: Apparently it's a bug. See Steve Streeting's answer.

I'd consider the error a bug, but what do I know. Anyway, I finally got it to work, and here are my findings.

Undo what you did:

Go to SourceTree > Tools > Options > General (Tab) > SSH Key, clear the field, and hit 'OK'.

The workaround:

Go to SourceTree > Tools > Create or Import SSH Keys (that should open the 'Putty Key Generator' dialog), hit 'Generate' button to generate a new set of private and public SSH keys, and save them as shown in my question. Then close the 'Putty Key Generator' dialog box.
Go to SourceTree > Tools > Launch SSH Agent (Pageant) — this is where the bug is — when the 'Select an SSH key file to load (PuTTY format)' dialog box appears, DON'T select your .ppk file. Simply hit 'Cancel'.
No worries, as you'll notice that Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) is still running in the system tray!
Right-click on Pageant icon (in the system tray) > Add Key and select the private key file (.ppk) this time.
Now you can carry on with the rest of the process. But the problem is, you'll have to repeat this everytime you launch SourceTree. At least until Atlassian fixes what appears to be a bug to me.

Aahan Krish

Okay, I've tried reinstalling SourceTree to no avail. But I've found a temporary fix, which I've added as an answer. Please take a look. Does that say something? I've no idea why this is happening, or how to fix it. Hope you can find something. Looks like I should stick to github for windows for now.

Aahan Krish

Steve, please edit your answer and add the comment to posted under my answer so that I can mark this as the answer. Thanks!

stevestreeting

I couldn't reproduce this at all, until I tried placing the ppk in a folder which had a space in it. This is the root of the problem, which will be fixed in the next update.

Vinayan Pushpa

I have been chasing to solve this similar issue with my source tree , I tried all these steps which were provided.. but no luck sad

Tom Miller7

This is still a bug in Version 1.8.2.11

JdavidrevillaD

5 years have passed and this is still a problem, come on atlassian, could have written my own client in this time

Hà Ngọc Thái

1. Launch SourceTree -> Tools -> Create or Import SSH Keys
2. Launch SSH Agent (Pageant) and add the private file
3. Go to bitbucket -> choose your repository -> Settings -> Access keys -> Add key

Markus Miller

It works in the standard version of source tree just fine. It's a problem of the enterprise version. You can choose between having a working SSH key connection or a different application path. Fucked up...

Josh Noe

Doesn't work if your ssh key is password protected.

Camilo Rojas Díaz

For me "Launch SSH Agent" does nothing. I can import my converted SSH key in the "create or import SSH keys" but after closing the dialog it doesn't stay loaded.

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