> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.synteq.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.synteq.com/system-administration/ssh-keys/how-to-generate-ssh-keys.md).

# How to generate SSH keys

### What is an SSH key?

An SSH key is a cryptographic keypair used to authenticate you to\
remote servers without needing a password. The private key stays on your\
local machine and the public key is uploaded on servers you want to access.

### How to generate an SSH KeyPair?

On your local machine, open a new terminal window or Windows Powershell (If you're on windows) and run the command below and make sure you change `example@example.com` with your actual email address.

```bash
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "example@example.com" -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa -N ""
```

{% hint style="info" %}
Note: This generates a KeyPair in your user directory under `.ssh` folder. You must be on Windows 10 22H1 or newer to use this command.
{% endhint %}

### Fetching your public key

Now that you have generated your SSH KeyPair, we'll fetch the public key so you can add it to your [https://virt.crunchbits.com](https://virt.crunchbits.com/) account and use it with your servers. Copy and paste the command below depending on your OS.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="MacOS/Linux" %}

```bash
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Windows" %}

```powershell
Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_rsa.pub
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

And done! The output you get is your SSH Public Key which you can upload on our VPS Control Panel. 


---

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