How to Convert PPK to PEM file using Command

    RahulBy 2 Mins ReadUpdated:

    One of my clients provided me .ppk file to connect to his server using ssh. As I am a Ubuntu user, I need a key that supports the terminal command. So I decided it convert to a .pem file. I am sharing the steps to convert PPK to PEM format on the Linux terminal using a putty-gen command-line utility.

    The Windows Users may like: How to convert a PEM file to PPK?

    Method 1: Convert PPK to PEM in Linux

    Use the below steps to install the required packages and convert PPK to a pem file.

    • Step 1 – First of all, install the putty tools on your Linux system using below command.
      sudo apt-get install putty-tools
    • Step 2 – Now, convert the ppk file to pem file using puttygen command line tool.
      puttygen server1.ppk -O private-openssh -o server1.pem
    • Step 3 – Change the .pem file permissions. Set the read-only permissions to the owner of the file, remove any permission to group and other. Otherwise ssh will refuse this key for use.
      chmod 400 server1.pem
    • Step 4 – Finally, connect to your remote Linux server with ssh using this pem key.
      ssh -i server1.pem [email protected]

    Method 2: Convert PPK to PEM in Windows with PuTTYgen

    Windows users can also convert a PPK file to PEM using PuTTYgen utility. Assuing you already have downloaded Puttygen from its official download site.

    Next, follow the steps to convert PPK to PEM:

    1. Start PuTTYgen
    2. Under File menu, click Load private key.
    3. Select your .ppk file, and then choose Open.
    4. Now, under the Conversions menu, click Export OpenSSH Key.
    5. Set a new name with “.pem” extension
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    8 Comments

    3. Michael Quick on

      Or if you want a script to do it :

      #!/bin/bash
      [[ “${1##*.}” =~ “ppk” ]] && { puttygen ${1} -O private-openssh -o “${1%.*}.pem”; chmod 400 “${1%.*}.pem”; } || { puttygen ${1} -o “${1%.*}.ppk” -O private; chmod 400 “${1%.*}.ppk”; }

      (checks extension and writes a file)

      Reply
    4. Ahmed on

      When type:
      puttygen key.ppk -O private-openssh -o key.pem
      puttygen: unable to load file `key.ppk’: unable to open file

      What is this?

      Reply
    5. Dhananjay on

      what is [username] in
      ssh -i server1.pem [username]@11.22.33.44

      I am using my ftp username, and again it is asking for password

      Reply

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