How to paste ssh key in GCP, generated by puttygen?

To paste an SSH key generated by PuTTYgen into Google Cloud Platform (GCP), follow these steps:

1. Generate the SSH key using PuTTYgen:

• Open PuTTYgen.
• Click on the “Generate” button.
• Move the mouse around to generate randomness.
• Once the key is generated, you will see the public key in the top box.

1. Convert the PuTTYgen key to the required format:

• In PuTTYgen, click on “Conversions” in the menu.
• Select “Export OpenSSH key” and save the private key file. This file will be in the format GCP requires.

1. Copy the public key:

• In the PuTTYgen window, select the entire text in the “Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file” box.
• Copy this text to your clipboard.

1. Add the SSH key to your GCP project:

• Open the Google Cloud Console.
• Go to the “Compute Engine” section.
• Select “Metadata” from the left sidebar.
• Click on the “SSH Keys” tab.
• Click on the “Edit” button.
• Paste your public key into the “Add SSH Key” box.
• Save the changes.

1. Access your GCP VM instance using the SSH key:

• Open PuTTY.
• In the “Host Name (or IP address)” box, enter the external IP of your VM instance.
• In the “Connection” category on the left, expand “SSH” and select “Auth”.
• In the “Private key file for authentication” box, browse and select the private key file you saved earlier.
• Click “Open” to connect to your VM instance.

You should now be able to access your GCP VM instance using the SSH key generated by PuTTYgen.