Knowledgebase
How to connect to your account through SSH in Windows
Windows users can connect to their hosting accounts through SSH using an application called PuTTY.
You can download PuTTY from the site of its developer. Make sure you download the whole installer package (e.g., putty-0.81-installer.exe). It includes several things: PuTTY itself, the PuTTY key generator, keygen.exe, and the key agent, pageant.exe.
The PuTTY key generator can be used to create a public/private SSH key pair. Then you can load the key into pageant.exe by clicking on the Add Key button.
We can also generate a key pair for you and send you both the public and the private key; however, this is inherently less secure, so we recommend that you generate your own keys. This way, the private key will never leave your computer.
Once you have your SSH keys, you have to export the public SSH key and send it to our support team in a ticket using your Client Area. The key will then be added to your account so that you can log in over SSH, and our support team will tell you which username and hostname you have to use in PuTTY.
After you add the key in Pageant, start the PuTTY application. In the Host Name (or IP address) field, type the username and hostname provided by our support team (e.g., "myaccount@hosting.server.hostknox.com"), and then just click on Open. That's it. You'll see the PuTTY command line interface where you can execute commands on the server.
For some more information you can also check out the tutorial on connecting to your account through SSH.