Using an external OpenSSH client

OpenSSH on Windows 10

Modern versions of Windows and Windows Server come with OpenSSH installed, and available on the system PATH. By default, the OpenSSH binaries are located in C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\.

The ssh-agent is also implemented as a Windows service, allowing it to be run automatically, during boot or login, and so on.

NOTE: By default the ssh-agent service is disabled, and if its use required — to manage your private keys, for instance — it will need to be explicitly enabled, and then started (or configured to start as necessary).

Configuring Git For Windows to use an external client

As per this discussion on the issue, during the installation of Git For Windows there is an option to utilise either the built-in OpenSSH client, or an external client.

In order to configure this functionality, either as a post-installation change, or to use it with the portable version of Git For Windows, the bundled OpenSSH binaries should be removed.

NOTE: This feature is still experimental.