mitchellh/vagrant — Issue #756: Idea: Use a SSH1 key for wider client compatibility
Author: JamesGecko
Created: 2012-02-22 16:52:04+00:00
State: open

There are [several tickets](https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/issues/search?q=putty+key) about how the SSH2 key Vagrant uses does not work with PuTTY and missing PPK keys, etc. Instead of requiring a separate PPK file, it might be simpler for Vagrant to use an SSH1 key.

> Most SSH1 clients use a standard format for storing private keys on disk. PuTTY uses this format as well; so if you have generated an SSH1 private key using OpenSSH or ssh.com's client, you can use it with PuTTY, and vice versa.

> However, SSH2 private keys have no standard format. OpenSSH and ssh.com have different formats, and PuTTY's is different again. So a key generated with one client cannot immediately be used with another.
[Source](http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.55/htmldoc/Chapter8.html#S8.2.12)

SSH1 _is_ inherently insecure due to design flaws, but on a local PC that's not a huge issue.