Windows Terminal is one of my most loved features of recent Windows releases. Seriously Microsoft, where was this application in Windows 2000? I can launch Powershell, Command Prompt and ssh sessions from the same window - simply amazing! (Yes, I know that Linux has supported this for decades).

I wanted to create a profile that would let me administer my omv Linux server, without having to input credentials every. single. time. To do that, a public/private key needs to be created, before copying the public key over to the destination server. Then, when I connect via. SSH and present my private key, the connection is transparently (to me) approved.

Start by running the command ssh-keygen -t rsa to generate a keypair. I accepted all the defaults, and skipped a passphrase:

C:\Users\Greg>ssh-keygen
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (C:\Users\Greg/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in C:\Users\Greg/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in C:\Users\Greg/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:IaBSPSCx3y416+iY7qLYbMf9FoxBNhSNbAR/SMRh5yM greg@DESKTOP-SU06DHB
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 3072]----+
|o.oooBO=.        |
| + .o=O+.        |
|o .  =E.=        |
| o .  .+ o       |
|  . +  +S        |
|   o o. o        |
|  ..o.   .       |
|o=.+o . .        |
|X==..  o.        |
+----[SHA256]-----+

C:\Users\Greg>

Now we copy the public key over to the omv server:
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh root@192.168.4.107 "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Finally, we setup the connection profile in Windows Terminal via. Launch Terminal > Settings > Open JSON
Paste this configuration string into the profiles section. You’ll need to update the username and IP address to reflect your situation:

{
    "commandline": "ssh -i \"~/.ssh/id_rsa\" root@192.168.4.107",
    "font": {"size": 10.0},
    "guid": "{0caa0dad-35be-5f56-a8ff-afceaeaa6103}",
    "hidden": false,
    "name": "OMV Server"
}

Save the settings, then test the connection!