Issue on adding SSH key to GitHub

Question

I have got an issue that seems about the format of SSH key used by GitHub. I used Git Bash to generate a new SSH key:

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "youremail@youremail.com"

Then, I copied the key to the SSH section in settings of my GitHub account page. However, it came with the issue notice as follows:

Key is invalid. It must begin with 'ssh-ed25519', 'ssh-rsa', 'ssh-dss', 'ecdsa-sha2-nistp256', 'ecdsa-sha2-nistp384', or 'ecdsa-sha2-nistp521'. Check that you're copying the public half of the key

Following that, I edited my SSH key starting with ssh-rsa and my email address at the end. However, the issue is still there.

What is the solution to this?　

Looks like it has happened with you, because you've tried to add your private key instead of public one — user1016265, Oct 07 '17 at 13:28

score 34 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 24 '16 at 20:37

34

ssh-keygen will generate you a pair of keys, one private and one public. It sounds like you uploaded the wrong one. GitHub wants the public key, typically here: ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

answered Feb 24 '16 at 20:37

Kevin Burdett

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Thanks! Yep, I just found one ending with .pub so that is the right and works properly! – Yu Xiong Feb 24 '16 at 20:40
Wow. This was my problem as well. I feel like a donkey. Thank you – Amc_rtty Apr 01 '18 at 20:32

score 13 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:06

13

Simply follow these steps and you will set up your SSH key in no time:

Generate a new ssh key (or skip this step if you already have a key) ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "your@email"
Once you have your key set in home/.ssh directory (or Users/<your user>.ssh under windows), open it and copy the content

How can I add the SSH key to the GitHub account?

Login to the GitHub account
Click on the rancher on the top right (Settings)
Click on the SSH keys
Click on the Add SSH key
Paste your key and save

And you are all set to go :-)

edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:06

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 24 '16 at 20:50

CodeWizard

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Easy way to grab this key to copy/paste into GitHub is using their suggested: `clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub` command – MattMakes Feb 18 '18 at 15:24
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For those of us who make things harder than they have to be, also ensure that you are using the text from the .pub file. – JDennis Jul 15 '18 at 06:00
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https://help.github.com/en/enterprise/2.15/user/articles/adding-a-new-ssh-key-to-your-github-account – Andrew Bringaze Jan 13 '20 at 18:47

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:09

5

If you are using a Mac and are typing out GitHub's instructions (e.g. Generating a new SSH key and adding it to the ssh-agent, you're probably typing and only tabbing (e.g. auto-completing) to:

$ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa

and not

$ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

With the former you're actually copying, and trying to paste your private key.

I hope that saves you some time.

edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:09

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 27 '16 at 07:42

bgerd

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sometimes I feel like a nut. sometimes I don't. – Ryan Loechner Jan 16 '17 at 22:49

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:19

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Open file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub. Then open it with an editor and copy the public key to your GitHub account.

edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:19

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 01 '16 at 00:05

shawlang

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:16

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I ran into the same problem and it turns out it was due to there being a - in the comment. GitHub apparently doesn't like -, but _ is OK though.

edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:16

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 05 '17 at 17:51

sent-hil

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score 2 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:11

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Another way to copy the public key to the clipboard:

clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

edited Aug 19 '20 at 17:11

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 10 '18 at 03:00

Tin Torres

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What platform? [Ubuntu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29)? Is `clip` installed by default? – Peter Mortensen Aug 19 '20 at 17:12

score 1 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 07 '20 at 05:57

Add SSH key to Github

Check if you have a key?

ssh-add -l

If not? then follow steps to generate key

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C your__gmail

Now for copy the key use xclip tool or just goto file and copy

sudo apt install xclip
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Now goto github.com and goto settings
select SSH and GPG keys
New SSH key
Enter "your__choice__name" in title field...
Paste your public key into the Key field
Click Add SSH key

score 0 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 21 '21 at 20:43

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For IntelliJ IDE,

Go to IntelliJ IDEA -> Preferences...

edited Aug 21 '21 at 20:43

Dharman

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answered Aug 21 '21 at 20:38

turong

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Issue on adding SSH key to GitHub

8 Answers8

How can I add the SSH key to the GitHub account?

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