An EdDSA key (Edwards-curve DSA, another elliptic curve algorithm) for use with the SSH-2 protocol.An ECDSA (elliptic curve DSA) key for use with the SSH-2 protocol.A DSA key for use with the SSH-2 protocol.An RSA key for use with the SSH-2 protocol.The current version of the SSH protocol, SSH-2, supports several different key types, although specific servers may not support all of them. It explicitly mentions that all key types (with obvious exception of the "SSH-1 (RSA)") are for SSH-2. The screenshot in AWS documentation is from an older version of PuTTYgen that did not support the ECDSA and ED25519 key types.Ĭheck the PuTTYgen documentation. So in the recent versions of PuTTYgen, they opted not to mention the version explicitly (to save a space for the new ECDSA and ED25519 key types). The SSH-2 is de-facto standard these days. It has no effect at all for converting existing keys.Īnyway, to answer the question: That's the first "RSA" option: The selection, that the documentation incorrectly refers to, is for "generating" new keys only (as its label clearly says). You will see key type of the loaded key in the two top boxes.Īlso note that while currently AWS always generates RSA keys, if they ever change that, just do not worry and keep the key as it was generated, no matter what type it will be. PuTTYgen will automatically detect key type from the private key file. To convert an existing private key file (pem to ppk) in PuTTYgen, you do not need to select key type.
If you're using an older version of PuTTYgen, choose SSH-2 RSA. Under Type of key to generate, choose RSA.