How To Fix PuTTYgen "Couldn’t load private key(unable to open file)" Error?
If you see the “Couldn’t load private key(unable to open file)” error message in PuTTYgen when you try to load a private key, then you should try the following solutions:
- make sure that you are loading the private SSH key, not the public one;
- check the contents of the .ppk file with a text editor like Notepad. The file should contain a very large string of text starting with a “—–BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY—–” line and ending with a “—–END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY—–” one. There shouldn’t be any blank new lines at the end of the file or at the top.
- check if the private key file you are trying to load has a .ppk file extension. If it doesn’t – rename the file;
- if the problem persists – save the private key in a new file with UTF-8 encoding. To do that copy the key from Site Tools and then paste it in Notepad. After that click File -> Save As, choose “All Files (*.*)” in the Save as type dropdown and select “UTF-8” in the Encoding option. Make sure that when you type in the file name in which you save the key you end it with “.ppk”.
