---
title: 'Tutorial: Connect to Access Server via SSH using PuTTY'
canonical: https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/tutorial--connect-with-putty/
product: Access Server Docs
description: How to use PuTTY to start an SSH session to Access Server with a private key. Connect to AWS, GCP, and other cloud providers running the VPN server.
---

# Tutorial: Connect to Access Server via SSH using PuTTY

## Overview

Access Server runs on Linux platforms. You can use an SSH client to connect to your server when connecting from a Windows PC. This document provides example steps for connecting with the PuTTY SSH client, which you can use to connect to Access Server running on an AWS EC2, DigitalOcean droplet, Azure servers, GCP instances, and more.

Before you begin, ensure you have a server with Access Server installed. Refer to our [installation guides](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/installation.md).

## Step 1: Download PuTTY

1. Download the PuTTY installation package to install both PuTTY and PuTTYgen: [https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html](https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html).

   > **Tip**
   >
   > You can also get PuTTY from the Microsoft Store, published by Simon Tatham.
2. Follow the program's installation steps.

## Step 2: Generate a key

1. Launch the PuTTYgen app.
2. Click **Conversions \> Import Key**.
3. Select the key file you used to generate your server.

   > **Important**
   >
   > If you don't have a key file, refer to the [installation guides](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/installation.md) to install Access Server first.
4. Enter the passphrase for your key if needed.
   - PuTTYgen loads your key file.
5. Click **Save private key**.
6. Name your key and save it to a file location.
7. Close PuTTYgen.

## Step 3: Configure the SSH session

1. Launch the PuTTY tool.
2. Enter the static IP address of your server in the **Host Name (or IP address)** field.
3. In the left-hand navigation, navigate to **SSH \> Auth \> Credentials**.
4. Click **Browse** next to **Private key file for authentication** and select the private key you generated with PuTTYgen.
5. Click **Session**, enter a name for this SSH session in the **Saved Sessions** text field, and click **Save**. (This saves your configuration so you can load it quickly next time.)
6. Click **Open** to launch the SSH session.

## Step 4: Connect the SSH session

1. After clicking **Open**, PuTTY presents a message that it hasn't seen this server before. It's safe to click **Accept**.
2. When prompted, sign in as your root user.

   > **Tip**
   >
   > For many of our cloud marketplace instances, use 'openvpnas'.
3. Upon successful key validation, you connect to the server, and the command line interface is displayed.

---

Prev: [Tutorial: How to Change the Branding on the Admin and Client Web UIs](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/tutorial--web-server-logo-branding.md)
Next: [Deployment and Infrastructure Options](https://openvpn.net/as-docs/tutorials/deployment-and-infrastructure-options.md)
Index: https://openvpn.net/as-docs/llms.txt