how can I execute command through ssh, remote is windows

Question

My remote machine is a windows and I am doing ssh from ubuntu to windows.

I want to use git bash instead of command prompt, but running the ssh will bring me to the default command prompt, is there any way that I could invoke git bash through ssh?

I try the following command not working:

ssh [email protected] < "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe"

I can run the following command to after ssh to start the git bash, but I am seeking a way to automate this process?

"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" --login

I am using Windows 2012 R2

Answer 1

Yes, you can if you have OpenSSH For Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 installed.

From OpenSSH Server Configuration for Windows 10 1809 and Server 2019:

Configuring the default ssh shell is done in the Windows registry by adding the full path to the shell executable to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH in the string value DefaultShell.

As an example, the following Powershell command sets the default shell to be PowerShell.exe:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -PropertyType String -Force

To set Git Bash as default shell, run this snippet as administrator in the PowerShell:

New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" -PropertyType String -Force

To get a login shell, you could create a batch file sh.bat in C:\Program Files\Git\bin with this content:

@echo off
"C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.exe" --login

and replace the DefaultShell value with C:\Program Files\Git\bin\sh.bat.

The DefaultShell registry key is a new key, you can delete it to restore the default command prompt.