Claude Code — Remote SSH Connection Setup (Windows)

Prerequisites

Claude Code desktop app installed on Windows
Target machine running Linux/macOS on your LAN
OpenSSH client installed on Windows (built-in since Windows 10 1809)
Network access between the two machines

Step 1 — Verify OpenSSH is installed on Windows

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object Name -like 'OpenSSH.Client*'

If the state shows NotPresent, install it:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

Step 2 — Fix "Host denied (verification failed)"

This error means SSH cannot verify the remote machine's host key.

Option A — Remove stale host key (most common fix)

# Replace 192.168.1.x with your remote machine's IP
ssh-keygen -R 172.17.1.x

Then test the connection manually to accept the new key:

ssh root@172.17.1.x
# Type "yes" when prompted about the host fingerprint

Option B — Edit known_hosts manually

Open the file:

notepad C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\known_hosts

Find and delete the line containing your remote machine's IP or hostname, then save.

Option C — First-time connection (no prior key)

Just connect once manually and accept the fingerprint:

ssh root@172.17.1.x
# Answer "yes" at the prompt

Step 3 — Generate an SSH key pair (skip if you already have one)

# Check for an existing key first
dir C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\id_ed25519

# If no key exists, generate one
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"
# Press Enter to accept the default path
# Set a passphrase or leave it blank

Step 4 — Copy your public key to the remote machine

From Windows PowerShell:

# Replace user and IP with your values
type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | ssh root@172.17.1.x "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

If that fails, do it manually:

Print your public key:

type C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub

Copy the output.
SSH into the remote machine with a password:
```
ssh root@172.17.1.x
```

On the remote machine:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
echo "PASTE_YOUR_PUBLIC_KEY_HERE" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 700 ~/.ssh

Test passwordless login:

ssh root@172.17.1.x
# Should log in without a password prompt

Step 5 — Install Claude Code on the remote machine

Claude Code must be installed on the remote machine for remote development to work.

# On the remote Linux machine
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Verify:

claude --version

Step 6 — Add SSH config entry (recommended)

This makes connections easier and is required by Claude Code's remote feature.

Open or create C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\config in a text editor:

notepad C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\config

Add an entry:

Host myserver
    HostName 172.17.1.x
    User your_username
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    ServerAliveInterval 60
    ServerAliveCountMax 3

Test it:

ssh myserver

Step 7 — Connect from Claude Code (Windows app)

Method A — Via the GUI

Open the Claude Code desktop app.
Click the remote connection icon (or go to File → Connect to Remote).
Enter the SSH connection string:
```
ssh://root@172.17.1.x
```
Or if you set up a config alias in Step 6:
```
ssh://myserver
```
Select the remote working directory you want to open.
Click Connect.

Method B — Via the terminal inside Claude Code

Open the integrated terminal in Claude Code and run:

# Navigate to a remote project
claude --remote ssh://root@172.17.1.x /path/to/project

Method C — Launch from PowerShell

claude --remote ssh://myserver /home/user/myproject

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
`Host denied (verification failed)`	Stale or missing host key	Run `ssh-keygen -R <ip>` then reconnect
`Permission denied (publickey)`	Key not on remote	Repeat Step 4
`Connection refused`	SSH not running on remote	`sudo systemctl start ssh` on remote
`Connection timed out`	Firewall or wrong IP	Check firewall, verify IP with `ip addr` on remote
`claude: command not found` on remote	Claude Code not installed	Repeat Step 5

Quick Reference

# Remove stale host key
ssh-keygen -R 192.168.1.x

# Test SSH connection
ssh user@192.168.1.x

# Test SSH config alias
ssh myserver

# Copy public key to remote
type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | ssh user@192.168.1.x "cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

# Connect Claude Code to remote
claude --remote ssh://myserver /home/user/project

File Locations

File	Path
SSH private key	`C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\id_ed25519`
SSH public key	`C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub`
Known hosts	`C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\known_hosts`
SSH config	`C:\Users\YourUsername\.ssh\config`