How to enable the OpenSSH server on Windows 2022 Instances

Reviewed on August 11, 2025

The latest release of Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2022 Core images includes the OpenSSH Server and OpenSSH Client packages by default.

Tip

The OpenSSH Server is installed but disabled by default for security reasons.
To enable it at Instance creation, add the tag with-ssh when launching your Instance.

Enabling OpenSSH at Instance creation

Use the following CLI command to create a new Instance with OpenSSH Server enabled:

scw instance server create name=win2k22-core image=windows-server-2022-core tags.0=with-ssh type=POP2-2C-8G-WIN admin-password-encryption-ssh-key-id={ssh_key_id}

Enabling OpenSSH on an existing Instance

If your Instance was started without the with-ssh tag, you can enable OpenSSH manually by running the following PowerShell command:

Start-Service sshd

Once started, load the SSH keys configured in your Project using the following command:

PS C:\Users\administrator> Scw-Fetch-SSH-Keys

This ensures your SSH keys are loaded and ready for authentication.