How to log in to my SiteGround shared account via SSH using PuTTY?

SiteGround uses key-based SSH authentication instead of plain username & password. The SSH port on SiteGround’s servers is also 18765 instead of the default port 22.

To connect to your shared hosting account via SSH using PuTTY, download and install PuTTY, Pageant, and Puttygen from this link.

Once you complete the software installation you will need to generate an SSH key pair from your Site Tools > Dev > SSH Keys Manager -> Generate.

NB: If you are using Puttygen 0.70, note that it does not accept passphrases containing special characters such as “&”, “[“, “]”, “{“, “}”.

Fill the required fields and press Create. Then from the section “Manage SSH keys”, go to the kebab menu > Private Key. Click on Copy to Clipboard and save it to a new file called private_key.ppk on your computer.

After you install them launch puttygen.exe and navigate to File > Load Private Key, browse for your private key, open it and enter the passphrase. The passphrase was specified during the generation of the SSH key pair in Site Tools.

If everything was done correctly you will receive a message saying Successfully imported foreign key. Click on Save private key and choose the (*.ppk) format for the file.

Right-click the private key file and choose “Load in Pageant”. Alternatively, you can open pageant.exe and load your private key in it. You may be prompted for the passphrase of your key.

Start putty.exe and enter the following connection details in the Sessions category:

• Hostname – enter the host/IP of the server to which you wish to connect (e.g. siteground300.com)
• Port – the port for the connection – use 18765
• Protocol – SSH

Press Open to establish the connection. You will be prompted for a Username, which is listed in your Site Tools > Devs > SSH Keys Manager. Under “Manage SSH Keys”, go to the kebab menu > SSH Credentials.