I want to convert my Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Privacy Enhanced Mail (.pem) file to a PuTTY Private Key (.ppk) file. Or, I want to convert a .ppk file to a .pem file.
Short description
PuTTY doesn't natively support the private key format (.pem) that Amazon EC2 generates. Before you can use PuTTY to connect to your instance, you must convert your private key into a .ppk file. Use the PuTTYgen tool for this conversion.
Most Windows operating systems have PuTTY installed. If your system doesn't, then download and install PuTTYgen. For more information on PuTTYgen, see PuTTYgen on the SSH website.
Start PuTTYgen. For Actions, choose Load, and then navigate to your .ppk file.
Choose the .ppk file, and then choose Open.
(Optional) For Key passphrase, enter a passphrase. For Confirm passphrase, re-enter your passphrase. Note: Although a passphrase isn't required, it's a best practice to specify one. This is a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. A passphrase makes automation difficult, because users must manually log in to an instance or copy files to an instance.
From the menu at the top of the PuTTY Key Generator, choose Conversions, Export OpenSSH Key. Note: If you didn't enter a passphrase, then you receive a PuTTYgen warning. Choose Yes.
Name the file and add the .pem extension.
Choose Save.
Unix or Linux - install PuTTY
Install PuTTY, if it's not already on your system.
The Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository contains the PuTTY package. You must activate the EPEL repository before you install PuTTY.
To install PuTTY, run one of the following commands:
RPM-based
$ yum install putty
Dpkg-based
$ apt-get install putty-tools
Unix or Linux - .pem and .ppk files
The .ppk file is supported only on Windows PuTTYGen. It must be converted to a .pem file to be used on Linux. Run the puttygen command to convert a .ppk file in to a .pem file:
If it is not available, choose SSH-2 RSA. Choose Save private key to save the key in the format that PuTTY can use, choose . You can choose to save the key with or without a passphrase. Now the private key is in PPK format that can be used with the PuTTY's SSH client.
ppk files are specific to PuTTY and use a proprietary format, .pem files use the widely used ASCII text format and can be used to store various types of keys. Despite their differences, both formats serve the same purpose and can be used interchangeably in various cryptographic applications.
what is a . ppk file? Files created by PuTTYgen are known as PPK files. PPK files are PuTTY Private Key Files developed by Putty and they serve as storage for the private keys the program generated. These files are used to enable communication securely with another party having the corresponding public key.
Open PuTTY and navigate to Connection > SSH > Auth > Credentials below the 'Category' section. Click the Browse button near the Private key file for the authentication field. Select the . ppk file you generated and then click Open.
Run the following command format from the OpenSSL installation bin folder. openssl pkcs12 -export -out Cert.p12 -in cert.pem -inkey key.pem -passin pass:root -passout pass:root.
Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) files are a type of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) file used for keys and certificates. PEM, initially invented to make e-mail secure, is now an Internet security standard.
Hobby: LARPing, Kitesurfing, Sewing, Digital arts, Sand art, Gardening, Dance
Introduction: My name is Amb. Frankie Simonis, I am a hilarious, enchanting, energetic, cooperative, innocent, cute, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
