(Visual Basic 6.0) Generate RSA SSH Key

See more SSH Key Examples

Generates an RSA SSH key and saves to various public and private key file formats (OpenSSH and PuTTY).

Chilkat ActiveX Downloads ActiveX for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows

Dim key As New ChilkatSshKey

' numBits may range from 384 to 4096.  Typical values are
' 1024 or 2048.  (must be a multiple of 64)
' A good choice for the exponent is 65537.  Chilkat recommends
' always using this value.
Dim numBits As Long
numBits = 2048
Dim exponent As Long
exponent = 65537
Dim success As Long
success = key.GenerateRsaKey(numBits,exponent)
If (success <> 1) Then
    Debug.Print "Bad params passed to RSA key generation method."
    Exit Sub
End If

' Note: Generating a public/private key pair is CPU intensive
' and may take a short amount of time (more than few seconds,
' but less than a minute).

Dim exportedKey As String
Dim exportEncrypted As Long

' Export the RSA private key to OpenSSH, PuTTY, and XML and save. 
exportEncrypted = 0
exportedKey = key.ToOpenSshPrivateKey(exportEncrypted)
' Chilkat provides a SaveText method for convenience...
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"privkey_openssh_unencrypted.pem")

' Export with encryption to OpenSSH private key format:
key.Password = "secret"
exportEncrypted = 1
exportedKey = key.ToOpenSshPrivateKey(exportEncrypted)
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"privkey_openssh_encrypted.pem")

' Export the RSA private key to unencrypted PuTTY format:
exportEncrypted = 0
exportedKey = key.ToPuttyPrivateKey(exportEncrypted)
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"privkey_putty_unencrypted.ppk")

' Export the RSA private key to encrypted PuTTY format:
key.Password = "secret"
exportEncrypted = 1
exportedKey = key.ToPuttyPrivateKey(exportEncrypted)
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"privkey_putty_encrypted.ppk")

' Export private key to XML:
exportedKey = key.ToXml()
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"privkey.xml")

' ----------------------------------------------------
' Now for the public key....
' ----------------------------------------------------

' The Secure Shell (SSH) Public Key File Format
' is documented in RFC 4716.
exportedKey = key.ToRfc4716PublicKey()
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"pubkey_rfc4716.pub")

' OpenSSH has a separate public-key file format, which 
' is also supported by Chilkat SshKey:
exportedKey = key.ToOpenSshPublicKey()
success = key.SaveText(exportedKey,"pubkey_openSsh.pub")

Debug.Print "Finished."