It turns out that my article on using SSH keys to speed login isn’t quite complete, assuming you’re using Subversion. You need to take one more step to enable Subversion (SVN) to use the private key generated by PuTTYgen: adding a line to Subversion’s configuration file.

(Note: I’ve now updated that article to include this item.)

Subversion’s configuration file is located in the Application Data directory under your user account. The full path is:

C:\Documents and Settings\{your windows user name}\Application Data\Subversion\config

Note that Application Data is a hidden folder, so to locate this file you must have Windows set to show hidden files and folders.

Open the config file in any plain text editor (such as Notepad) and add the following line:

ssh = $SVN_SSH plink.exe

plink.exe is the command-line link setup program that is included with PuTTY.

You’ll also need to make sure that the PuTTY directory is listed in your system’s Path.