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Contents:
  1. How to use KeepassXC to serve SSH keys to WSL2 and Windows GitBash
    1. WSL2 Configuration
    2. Setup
    3. Windows GitBash/MYSYS2 Configuration
      1. Resources to Read
14 September 2022

How to use KeepassXC to serve SSH keys to WSL2 and Windows GitBash

WSL2 Configuration

I am back on windows and I don’t want to spin up linux VMs to do file editing stuff. In linux I use KeepassXC which has a windows client so I thought there might be a solution that can allow me to use KeepassXC and WSL2 and boom found a solution.

Read more about it here by Mendhak but he is using Npiperelay and socat to do all the magic.

Keeagent with wsl by Mendhak.

Setup

Npiperelay allows named pipes to communicate between Linux in WSL and Windows.

# run this inside WSL2
cd ~ && wget https://github.com/jstarks/npiperelay/releases/latest/download/npiperelay_windows_amd64.zip
unzip npiperelay_windows_amd64.zip -d npiperelay && rm npiperelay_windows_amd64.zip

Socat allows WSL2 to communicate with Npiperelay.

# install socat
sudo apt install socat

# place this inside your .bashrc
#  Socat and npiperelay for KeepassXC SSH and WSL2

export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=$HOME/.ssh/agent.sock

ss -a | grep -q $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    rm -f $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
    (setsid socat UNIX-LISTEN:$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,fork EXEC:"$HOME/npiperelay/npiperelay.exe -ei -s //./pipe/openssh-ssh-agent",nofork &) >/dev/null 2>&1
fi

Now you are done.

  • Do make sure to set OpenSSH Authentication Agent service Start type to Automatic (Delayed Start).
  • Also make sure to Enable SSH Agent intergration and set Use OpenSSH in KeePassXC -> Tools -> Settings -> SSH Agent.

Windows GitBash/MYSYS2 Configuration

An option to have SSH Identities from KeePassXC to work on Git Bash and MYSYS2 on Windows follow the below steps:

  • Install winssh-pageant on Windows using winget: winget install winssh-pageant
  • Install ssh-pageant on MYSYS2 using pacman: pacman -S ssh-pageant
  • Confirm if its running: C:\Users\hiro\AppData\Local\Programs\WinSSH-Pageant>winssh-pageant.exe
  • Add below script text to ~/.bash_profile for Git Bash and eval $(/usr/bin/ssh-pageant -r -a "/tmp/.ssh-pageant-$USERNAME") for MYSYS2 shell
  • Enable SSH Agent intergration and set Use both agents in KeePassXC -> Tools -> Settings -> SSH Agent
  • Restart both shells and KeePassXC
# share SSH-Key Sessions from KepassXC via ssh-pageant
ps x | grep ssh-pageant 1>/dev/null
if [[ "$?" -eq 1 ]]; then
  # ssh-pageant
  eval $(/usr/bin/ssh-pageant -r -a "/tmp/.ssh-pageant-$USERNAME")
else
  # export existing SSH AUTH SOCKET file
  export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/tmp/.ssh-pageant-$USERNAME"
fi

NOTE: KeePAssXC will take a while so be patient with it.

Or if you just want git on Git Bash in Windows to use Windows OpenSSH Agent you can set the below git global config.

git config --global --add core.sshCommand C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe

Resources to Read