SSHKeyForward

Share private keys from KeePassXC to Windows OpenSSH agent and from there to WSL2.

Enable Windows OpenSSH agent service

#Set the sshd service to be started automatically
Get-Service -Name sshd | Set-Service -StartupType Automatic

# Now start the sshd service
Start-Service sshd

KeePassXC Setup

Tools -> Settings -> SSH Agent

• Enable SSH Agent integration
• Use OpenSSH for Windows instead of Pageant

KeePassXC supports private keys in OpenSSH format. Key files can be addded to entry in advanced section -> attachments.

After adding SSH key to entry new menu button "SSH Agent" will be displayed. There you can check information about the key.

WSL2 Setup

Install socat package apt install socat

Create .ssh folder in $home mkdir $HOME/.ssh

Download latest npiperelay, unzip it and put npiperelay.exe in $HOME/.ssh https://github.com/jstarks/npiperelay/releases/latest

wget https://github.com/jstarks/npiperelay/releases/download/v0.1.0/npiperelay_windows_amd64.zip
unzip npiperelay_windows_amd64.zip
mv npiperelay.exe $HOME/.ssh

Add to end of .bashrc in $HOME

export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=$HOME/.ssh/agent.sock

ss -a | grep -q $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    rm -f $SSH_AUTH_SOCK
    (setsid socat UNIX-LISTEN:$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,fork EXEC:"$HOME/.ssh/npiperelay.exe -ei -s //./pipe/openssh-ssh-agent",nofork &) >/dev/null 2>&1
fi

Relaunch WSL2 shell after editing .bashrc.

Test

• Add identity from KeePassXC to SSH Agent (Right click on Entry -> Add key to SSH Agent)
• Check SSH agent on Windows ssh-add -L
• Check SSH agent on WSL2 ssh-add -L