How to view “.ppk” files with gedit












0















When I open .ppk or .pub files (in my ~/.ssh directory), I'm unable to view the data. All I see are boxes as shown below. How do I fix this?



enter image description here










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New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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  • Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 18:56











  • I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 18:58











  • I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:01











  • Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:03













  • Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

    – Melebius
    2 days ago
















0















When I open .ppk or .pub files (in my ~/.ssh directory), I'm unable to view the data. All I see are boxes as shown below. How do I fix this?



enter image description here










share|improve this question









New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 18:56











  • I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 18:58











  • I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:01











  • Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:03













  • Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

    – Melebius
    2 days ago














0












0








0








When I open .ppk or .pub files (in my ~/.ssh directory), I'm unable to view the data. All I see are boxes as shown below. How do I fix this?



enter image description here










share|improve this question









New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












When I open .ppk or .pub files (in my ~/.ssh directory), I'm unable to view the data. All I see are boxes as shown below. How do I fix this?



enter image description here







ssh gedit putty parse






share|improve this question









New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 2 days ago









Melebius

4,57651839




4,57651839






New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked Jan 23 at 18:52









Brad WestBrad West

12




12




New contributor




Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Brad West is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 18:56











  • I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 18:58











  • I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:01











  • Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:03













  • Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

    – Melebius
    2 days ago



















  • Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 18:56











  • I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 18:58











  • I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:01











  • Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:03













  • Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

    – Melebius
    2 days ago

















Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 18:56





Hi, please check this thread out askubuntu.com/questions/818929/….

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 18:56













I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 18:58





I don't want to convert the file. I want to see its contents.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 18:58













I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 19:01





I'm pretty sure gedit is missing the requisite plugins. The converted format mentioned might be linux-readable, hence my comment. You can try try more <filename.ppk> on terminal once, maybe that will help. Cheerios :)

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 19:01













Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:03







Yes, more <filename.ppk> does show the contents of the file in the terminal. Any idea what plugin would allow me to view this in gedit?

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:03















Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

– Melebius
2 days ago





Could it be a wrong encoding guessed by Gedit? What does file <filename.ppk> say?

– Melebius
2 days ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















2















EDIT: Please note there are actually two versions of PPK files at play - one is the "older" binary one, and one is the newer "readable" one.




PPK files are Putty Private Key files, readable by PuttyGEN and Putty. In older PPK generated versions, they are stored as binary files, meaning they do not have any human-readable bits in them.



If you intend to read the contents of an old-style PPK, such as the specific private key bits that you'd find with an ssh-keygen'd private key, you need to convert the PPK to OpenSSH format and then read the Base64'd ASCII.



This applies for the Public Key file as well, though it's in SSH2 format which is not the format that'll work for SSH.





In newer versions of PuttyGEN and Putty(and not in the repos for Linux at this time), the PPK file is human readable to an extent. This means that in the latest PuTTY, you can read the PPK and Public Key as human readable.



However I have not found this 'newer' PuTTY on Linux yet, and only have found those binaries on Linux.



Also, without actually examining the files themselves, I can't determine whether the file you think is a PPK or a public key is actually a key that you can easily properly read or not; some keys are in 'binary form' and not openable, and those're either old PPK files or not the files you think they are and therefore aren't human readable (identification certificates for example can be used with OpenSSH connections, and if the certificate is in DER format it's in binary non-human-readable format).






share|improve this answer


























  • I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:02











  • please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Jan 23 at 19:04













  • Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:08











  • If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:11








  • 1





    @BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

    – Thomas Ward
    Jan 23 at 19:18













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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









2















EDIT: Please note there are actually two versions of PPK files at play - one is the "older" binary one, and one is the newer "readable" one.




PPK files are Putty Private Key files, readable by PuttyGEN and Putty. In older PPK generated versions, they are stored as binary files, meaning they do not have any human-readable bits in them.



If you intend to read the contents of an old-style PPK, such as the specific private key bits that you'd find with an ssh-keygen'd private key, you need to convert the PPK to OpenSSH format and then read the Base64'd ASCII.



This applies for the Public Key file as well, though it's in SSH2 format which is not the format that'll work for SSH.





In newer versions of PuttyGEN and Putty(and not in the repos for Linux at this time), the PPK file is human readable to an extent. This means that in the latest PuTTY, you can read the PPK and Public Key as human readable.



However I have not found this 'newer' PuTTY on Linux yet, and only have found those binaries on Linux.



Also, without actually examining the files themselves, I can't determine whether the file you think is a PPK or a public key is actually a key that you can easily properly read or not; some keys are in 'binary form' and not openable, and those're either old PPK files or not the files you think they are and therefore aren't human readable (identification certificates for example can be used with OpenSSH connections, and if the certificate is in DER format it's in binary non-human-readable format).






share|improve this answer


























  • I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:02











  • please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Jan 23 at 19:04













  • Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:08











  • If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:11








  • 1





    @BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

    – Thomas Ward
    Jan 23 at 19:18


















2















EDIT: Please note there are actually two versions of PPK files at play - one is the "older" binary one, and one is the newer "readable" one.




PPK files are Putty Private Key files, readable by PuttyGEN and Putty. In older PPK generated versions, they are stored as binary files, meaning they do not have any human-readable bits in them.



If you intend to read the contents of an old-style PPK, such as the specific private key bits that you'd find with an ssh-keygen'd private key, you need to convert the PPK to OpenSSH format and then read the Base64'd ASCII.



This applies for the Public Key file as well, though it's in SSH2 format which is not the format that'll work for SSH.





In newer versions of PuttyGEN and Putty(and not in the repos for Linux at this time), the PPK file is human readable to an extent. This means that in the latest PuTTY, you can read the PPK and Public Key as human readable.



However I have not found this 'newer' PuTTY on Linux yet, and only have found those binaries on Linux.



Also, without actually examining the files themselves, I can't determine whether the file you think is a PPK or a public key is actually a key that you can easily properly read or not; some keys are in 'binary form' and not openable, and those're either old PPK files or not the files you think they are and therefore aren't human readable (identification certificates for example can be used with OpenSSH connections, and if the certificate is in DER format it's in binary non-human-readable format).






share|improve this answer


























  • I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:02











  • please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Jan 23 at 19:04













  • Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:08











  • If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:11








  • 1





    @BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

    – Thomas Ward
    Jan 23 at 19:18
















2












2








2








EDIT: Please note there are actually two versions of PPK files at play - one is the "older" binary one, and one is the newer "readable" one.




PPK files are Putty Private Key files, readable by PuttyGEN and Putty. In older PPK generated versions, they are stored as binary files, meaning they do not have any human-readable bits in them.



If you intend to read the contents of an old-style PPK, such as the specific private key bits that you'd find with an ssh-keygen'd private key, you need to convert the PPK to OpenSSH format and then read the Base64'd ASCII.



This applies for the Public Key file as well, though it's in SSH2 format which is not the format that'll work for SSH.





In newer versions of PuttyGEN and Putty(and not in the repos for Linux at this time), the PPK file is human readable to an extent. This means that in the latest PuTTY, you can read the PPK and Public Key as human readable.



However I have not found this 'newer' PuTTY on Linux yet, and only have found those binaries on Linux.



Also, without actually examining the files themselves, I can't determine whether the file you think is a PPK or a public key is actually a key that you can easily properly read or not; some keys are in 'binary form' and not openable, and those're either old PPK files or not the files you think they are and therefore aren't human readable (identification certificates for example can be used with OpenSSH connections, and if the certificate is in DER format it's in binary non-human-readable format).






share|improve this answer
















EDIT: Please note there are actually two versions of PPK files at play - one is the "older" binary one, and one is the newer "readable" one.




PPK files are Putty Private Key files, readable by PuttyGEN and Putty. In older PPK generated versions, they are stored as binary files, meaning they do not have any human-readable bits in them.



If you intend to read the contents of an old-style PPK, such as the specific private key bits that you'd find with an ssh-keygen'd private key, you need to convert the PPK to OpenSSH format and then read the Base64'd ASCII.



This applies for the Public Key file as well, though it's in SSH2 format which is not the format that'll work for SSH.





In newer versions of PuttyGEN and Putty(and not in the repos for Linux at this time), the PPK file is human readable to an extent. This means that in the latest PuTTY, you can read the PPK and Public Key as human readable.



However I have not found this 'newer' PuTTY on Linux yet, and only have found those binaries on Linux.



Also, without actually examining the files themselves, I can't determine whether the file you think is a PPK or a public key is actually a key that you can easily properly read or not; some keys are in 'binary form' and not openable, and those're either old PPK files or not the files you think they are and therefore aren't human readable (identification certificates for example can be used with OpenSSH connections, and if the certificate is in DER format it's in binary non-human-readable format).







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 2 days ago

























answered Jan 23 at 18:59









Thomas WardThomas Ward

44k23122174




44k23122174













  • I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:02











  • please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Jan 23 at 19:04













  • Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:08











  • If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:11








  • 1





    @BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

    – Thomas Ward
    Jan 23 at 19:18





















  • I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:02











  • please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

    – Rinzwind
    Jan 23 at 19:04













  • Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

    – thephoenix01
    Jan 23 at 19:08











  • If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

    – Brad West
    Jan 23 at 19:11








  • 1





    @BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

    – Thomas Ward
    Jan 23 at 19:18



















I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:02





I have two Ubuntu 18.04 machines. On one of them I can open the file with gedit, on the other I can not. No converting necessary.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:02













please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

– Rinzwind
Jan 23 at 19:04







please edit the question and add in 2 images with the exact same file opened on those 2 machines if that is true. Not just the wrongly shown file ;)

– Rinzwind
Jan 23 at 19:04















Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 19:08





Isn't that exactly what this thread (askubuntu.com/questions/818929/…) is about?

– thephoenix01
Jan 23 at 19:08













If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:11







If it is, I'm not smart enough to understand it. I see nothing in there about gedit.

– Brad West
Jan 23 at 19:11






1




1





@BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

– Thomas Ward
Jan 23 at 19:18







@BradWest there's nothing in that thread about gedit. And I can confirm that on six 18.04 machines it is not readable. The one that is readable is not actually a Putty Private Key. PPK files are Putty's binary format. You might be reading a standard private key file but not the PPK, which would be human readable Base64-encoded/encrypted text)

– Thomas Ward
Jan 23 at 19:18












Brad West is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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