# SSH and PowerShell remoting on your Windows VPS
Source: https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/windows-vps/ssh-on-windows
Last reviewed: 2026-07-02
Summary: Windows Server includes an optional OpenSSH server, install it in two commands and manage the VPS from a terminal, scp/rsync-style transfers, scripted administration, key authentication (with the administrators_authorized_keys gotcha), even terminal AI agents. Plus the same restrict-and-key security rules RDP gets.

## What this is

RDP is the desktop; sometimes you want the **terminal**: quick edits over a slow link, scripted administration, `scp`-style file transfers, or pointing a [terminal AI agent](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/getting-started/claude-code-on-vps) at the machine. Windows Server ships an **OpenSSH server** as an optional feature, two commands and your Windows VPS speaks the same SSH as everything else you run.

## Install and start it

In an elevated PowerShell (over RDP):

```powershell
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
Start-Service sshd
Set-Service sshd -StartupType Automatic
```

Installing the capability normally creates the firewall rule for port 22, verify rather than assume: `Get-NetFirewallRule -Name *ssh*` (and [add it if missing](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/windows-vps/windows-firewall)). Then from your own machine:

```
ssh Administrator@YOUR.VPS.IP
```

with your Administrator password, you land in a Windows shell on the VPS. Two nice upgrades: make **PowerShell the default SSH shell** (instead of cmd):

```powershell
New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Program Files\PowerShell\7\pwsh.exe" -PropertyType String -Force
```

(or the `powershell.exe` path for built-in 5.1), and `scp`/`sftp` now work against the VPS for file transfer, the [same clients and habits](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/getting-started/uploading-files-sftp) as on Linux.

## Key authentication, and the Windows gotcha

Keys work, and [the generation story is identical](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/getting-started/setting-up-ssh-keys), but Windows has one famous trap: for accounts in the **Administrators group**, OpenSSH does **not** read `~/.ssh/authorized_keys`. Admin keys go in a shared file instead:

```
C:\ProgramData\ssh\administrators_authorized_keys
```

Append your public key there, and the file's permissions must be restricted to Administrators and SYSTEM (if you created it fresh, run: `icacls C:\ProgramData\ssh\administrators_authorized_keys /inheritance:r /grant "Administrators:F" /grant "SYSTEM:F"`). Half of all "key auth won't work on Windows" threads are this one paragraph.

Once keys work, the [RDP hardening logic](https://vpsdime.com/knowledgebase/windows-vps/protecting-rdp) applies to SSH too: consider disabling password auth (`PasswordAuthentication no` in `C:\ProgramData\ssh\sshd_config`, then `Restart-Service sshd`), and IP-restrict the port 22 rule the same way as RDP's.

## PowerShell remoting, the other door

Native Windows remote administration is **WinRM** (`Enter-PSSession`, `Invoke-Command`), powerful inside trusted networks, but its authentication over the open internet is fiddlier than SSH's. On a lone VPS, SSH (which modern PowerShell rides happily, `Enter-PSSession -HostName vps -UserName Administrator` works over it) is the simpler, better-understood door. Pick one, secure it well, and don't leave both wide open.

## Still need help?

You can [open a support ticket](https://vpsdime.com/open-ticket/). So we can help on the first reply, it's worth mentioning:

- the VPS hostname or IP,
- what fails (install, connection, key auth) with the exact message,
- whether password SSH works while key auth doesn't.

## Related questions

- "How do I SSH into my Windows VPS?"
- "How do I install OpenSSH Server on Windows Server?"
- "Why doesn't my SSH key work for Administrator on Windows?"
- "How do I make PowerShell the default SSH shell?"
- "SSH or WinRM for managing a Windows VPS?"