wsl2-ssh-pageant

Motivation

I use a Yubikey to store a GPG key pair and I like to use this key pair as my SSH key too. GPG on Windows exposes a Pageant style SSH agent and I wanted a way to use this key within WSL2.

How to use with WSL2

Prerequisite

In order to use

wsl-ssh-pageant

socat

ss

For example, on Ubuntu you can install these by running:

sudo apt install socat iproute2

Installation

1. Download latest version from release page and copy

   wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe

   to your

   $HOME/.ssh

   directory or equivalent

   bash
   destination="$HOME/.ssh/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
   wget -O "$destination" "https://github.com/BlackReloaded/wsl2-ssh-pageant/releases/latest/download/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
   # Set the executable bit.
   chmod +x "$destination"
   

2. Add one of the following to your shell configuration (for e.g.

   .bashrc

   ,

   .zshrc

   or

   config.fish

   ). For advanced configurations consult the documentation of your shell.

Bash/Zsh

SSH:

bash
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK="$HOME/.ssh/agent.sock"
if ! ss -a | grep -q "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK"; then
  rm -f "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK"
  wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin="$HOME/.ssh/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
  if test -x "$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin"; then
    (setsid nohup socat UNIX-LISTEN:"$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,fork" EXEC:"$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin" >/dev/null 2>&1 &)
  else
    echo >&2 "WARNING: $wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin is not executable."
  fi
  unset wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin
fi

GPG:

bash
export GPG_AGENT_SOCK="$HOME/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent"
if ! ss -a | grep -q "$GPG_AGENT_SOCK"; then
  rm -rf "$GPG_AGENT_SOCK"
  wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin="$HOME/.ssh/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
  if test -x "$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin"; then
    (setsid nohup socat UNIX-LISTEN:"$GPG_AGENT_SOCK,fork" EXEC:"$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin --gpg S.gpg-agent" >/dev/null 2>&1 &)
  else
    echo >&2 "WARNING: $wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin is not executable."
  fi
  unset wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin
fi

Fish

SSH:

fish
set -x SSH_AUTH_SOCK "$HOME/.ssh/agent.sock"
if not ss -a | grep -q "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK";
  rm -f "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK"
  set wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin "$HOME/.ssh/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
  if test -x "$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin";
    setsid nohup socat UNIX-LISTEN:"$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,fork" EXEC:"$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  else
    echo >&2 "WARNING: $wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin is not executable."
  end
  set --erase wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin
end

GPG:

fish
set -x GPG_AGENT_SOCK "$HOME/.gnupg/S.gpg-agent"
if not ss -a | grep -q "$GPG_AGENT_SOCK";
  rm -rf "$GPG_AGENT_SOCK"
  set wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin "$HOME/.ssh/wsl2-ssh-pageant.exe"
  if test -x "$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin";
    setsid nohup socat UNIX-LISTEN:"$GPG_AGENT_SOCK,fork" EXEC:"$wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin --gpg S.gpg-agent" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  else
    echo >&2 "WARNING: $wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin is not executable."
  end
  set --erase wsl2_ssh_pageant_bin
end

Troubleshooting

Smartcard is detected in Windows and WSL, but ssh-add -L returns error

If this is the first time you using yubikey with windows with gpg4win, please follow the instructions in the link https://developers.yubico.com/PGP/SSH_authentication/Windows.html

| Make sure ssh support is enabled in the

gpg-agent.conf

gpg-agent

gpg-connect-agent killagent /bye
gpg-connect-agent /bye

Credit

Some of the code is copied from benpye's wsl-ssh-pageant. This code shows how to communicate to pageant.