How can I permanently add my SSH private key to Keychain so it is automatically available to ssh?

Question

It seems that ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa will load your key but will ask for the password each time you reboot.

I am looking for a solution that would not require me to re-enter the key password between logins.

Can you say a little more about when the password prompt comes up for you? I ask because I have an ssh-key for a remote server, which I assure you is not the same as my Mac login password or anything, and I haven't had to enter the password for the ssh-key for years. I can just open up a terminal, type "ssh <server>", and I'm there. I think I first set this key up under OSX 10.5. id_dsa, but I don't think that should matter.
I also have the problem that I solved this so long ago that I can't remember exactly what I did. But I think the idea is to not run ssh-add, but just run ssh directly. You should get a window popping up that will as the pass phrase for the key, and with a checkbox to let you store it in your keychain.
@Sorin - so does mine! I had to enter it once, long ago, and the Mac has saved it for me ever since. Hopefully Harald's advice will help.
Do you mean the Keychain password (i.e. your login password) or the key's passphrase? If it's the latter, re your passphrases definitely stored in Keychain? You can check this by opening Keychain Access and looking for it in the login keychain.

loisin · Answer 1 · 2012-04-20 11:04:56Z

up vote 1 down vote

Add the public key in:

.ssh/known_hosts

Public key usually are on:

/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Hope that helps

answered Apr 20 '12 at 11:04

loisin
262

1

I think mean the authorized_keys – Rene Larsen May 23 '12 at 18:47

Anyway, this doesn't work if you have more than one key! – Sorin Sbarnea May 24 '12 at 10:01

1 Answer