This Windows SSH server built around CygWin (Linux environment for Windows) comes as a single executable and it is very easy to install, you can configure an SSH server on any Windows PC with just a couple of clicks, MobaSSH is registered as a Windows service it can be monitored like any other normal service, it will help you supervise and manage your Windows PC remotely allowing you to run commands and securely transfer files from any other operating system using a secure encrypted SSH tunnel, all you need is an SSH client on your end (OpenSSH, PuTTY, KiTTY) and MobaSSH installed in the computer you would like to have access to.
You will be able to administer a Windows machine using Unix commands as if it were a Linux operating system, the most useful GNU utilities are all included, the tool appears directed towards system administrators but home users with a small network at home can make good use of it too, you could for example, install MobaSSH on your home computer and securely connect to it from work or an Internet café using a portable SSH client on a thumbdrive to create an SSH tunnel and retrieve forgotten files or upload them to your home computer.
MobaSSH Windows SSH server
Commonly performed functions with MobaSSH include:
Use a Windows machine as a central backup server: With scp/sftp you can securely transfer files to the central server or write a script that will automatically run backing up a folder to the other offsite computer.
Manage a computer remotely without the logged in user even noticing: When you remotely log into a Windows machine remotely where MobaSSH is installed nothing is displayed on the screen, everything runs silently in the background, the user will be able to carry on working as normal.
Monitor what a Windows computer is doing: You can look at what programs/daemons are running on the computer and display the data packets crossing the network card in real time using TCPCapture, the network connection can be probed too using ftp/telnet/rlogin/wget/ping, etc.
Remotely run scripts on a Windows machine: Using bash, vim, chmod, cut, etc you can suddenly start an inactive script on a Windows computer, this can be done while a user is logged in.
MobaSSH main features
- Execute commands on a remote Windows computer
- Transfer files through an encrypted SSH tunnel
- Retrieve information about the remote computer
- Make backups of your computers over the network
- Silently install software on remote Windows computers
- Silently administer a remote Windows computer
The free version is for personal use only and it does not have advanced logging options, Samba domain users, hosts allow/deny configuration and service Keep Alive can only be found in the pro version. MobaSSH includes an easy to understand manual with screenshots, but you need to have a working knowledge of the Unix (Linux) command line in order to operate this tool, this is not difficult to learn.