Starting ssh-agent on Windows 10 fails: "unable to start ssh-agent service, error :1058"

When I try to start the ssh-agent on Windows 10 via PowerShell (with elevated right or without) by entering Start-Service ssh-agent I get the error

unable to start ssh-agent service, error :1058

When I check of the service is running via Get-Service ssh-agent is returns that the service is stopped.

How can I get the ssh-agent running?

Solution 1:

Yeah, as others have suggested, this error seems to mean that ssh-agent is installed but its service (on windows) hasn't been started.

You can check this by running in Windows PowerShell:

> Get-Service ssh-agent

And then check the output of status is not running.

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Stopped  ssh-agent          OpenSSH Authentication Agent

Then check that the service has been disabled by running

> Get-Service ssh-agent | Select StartType

StartType
---------
Disabled

I suggest setting the service to start manually. This means that as soon as you run ssh-agent, it'll start the service. You can do this through the Services GUI or you can run the command in admin mode:

 > Get-Service -Name ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Manual

Alternatively, you can set it through the GUI if you prefer.

Solution 2:

I solved the problem by changing the StartupType of the ssh-agent to Manual via Set-Service ssh-agent -StartupType Manual.

Then I was able to start the service via Start-Service ssh-agent or just ssh-agent.exe.

Solution 3:

I get the same error in Cygwin. I had to install the openssh package in Cygwin Setup.

(The strange thing was that all ssh-* commands were valid, (bash could execute as program) but the openssh package wasn't installed.)

Solution 4:

This just happens to me because I was running the command in a non-administrator Powershell. Running it with admin powers solved the problem