Getting “System error 1067” when installing OpenSSH on Windows 7 machine

Question

I try to install this OpenSSH package on windows 7. I have followed these instruction and all passed succesfully.

I have looked into this answer but it is not clear what exactly was done to solve the problem.

I had a problem where I couldn't generate a key with

C:\Program Files\OpenSSH-Win32>.\ssh-keygen.exe -A
ssh-keygen: generating new host keys: RSA Could not save your public key in __PR
OGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.sxfSDOzypn: No such file or directory
ssh-keygen: generating new host keys: DSA Could not save your public key in __PR
OGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.juOzEtM1FK: No such file or directory
ssh-keygen: generating new host keys: ECDSA Could not save your public key in __
PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key.GJzXzpQzfK: No such file or directory
ssh-keygen: generating new host keys: ED25519 Could not save your public key in
__PROGRAMDATA__\\ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.R26XZMokWU: No such file or directory

the solution I found here. I had to create a folder in C:\ProgramData\ssh\

my Windows OS is Windows 7 32bit and I am using OpenSSH-32bit

When I try this command

C:\Program Files\OpenSSH>net start sshd

I get this error:

The SSHD service is starting. The SSHD service could not be started.

A system error has occurred.

System error 1067 has occurred.

The process terminated unexpectedly.

What could be the problem? Also, I don't see the sshd process in services.

Answer 1

I think you have found the right instructions for installing OpenSSH and the right workaround.

The missing piece described in the answer you found is that step #3 and all following steps must be run within the folder C:\Program Files\OpenSSH.

The cd command in that answer you found is just:

cd "C:\Program Files\OpenSSH"

This same problem is described in the bug report Getting “System error 1067” when installing OpenSSH, where it is claimed that the cd was added to the installation instructions, although I cannot see any trace of it.

(I cannot test because I don't use OpenSSH, but hope that this will help in solving the problem.)

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Your problem might be the same as described in the bug report .\ssh-keygen -A is broken, cannot make host keys, where the solution was:

you must manually go to C:\ProgramData\ and create a folder named ssh

There is just this inconsistency that the developer in that bug report claims that starting the service will create this folder, which doesn't happen in your case.

There is also the question of what is your operating system. If it's 64-bit Windows, you should have installed the 64-bit version, and the installation folder would have been C:\Program Files\OpenSSH-Win64. And are you executing everything inside a PowerShell session?

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Note that for Windows 10, OpenSSH is directly available as an optional feature which might work better than a third-party package.

Go to Settings > Apps > Manage optional features and add "OpenSSH client". It installs to C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH (and is added to PATH). Uninstall first your version.