Configure Cygwin for Okta Privileged Access

Windows users can install Cygwin, which provides GNU and open-source tools that provide similar functionality to that of Linux operating systems. To work correctly with Okta Privileged Access, users must configure ProxyCommand to work with Cygwin.

Before you begin

• Download and install Cygwin.
• Install the openssh package for Cygwin.
• Install the Okta Privileged Access client on your local device. See Install the Okta Privileged Access client.

Start the procedure

1. Start a local terminal in Cygwin. By default, this opens to your home directory (~).
2. Create an .ssh directory with the following command: mkdir .ssh
3. Edit the SSH configuration file with the following command: cat <<ADDTEXT >> .ssh/config. Note: ADDTEXT is a delimiter that's used to determine when to stop accepting input for the configuration file.
4. If you're using sft v1.109.0 or newer, copy the output from sft ssh-config --cygwin.
   Note: Once ssh-config is configured, run ssh directly. For example, ssh target. Do not use sft ssh target as sft writes a temporary per-session config, so your saved ssh-config isn't applied.
5. If you're using sft version that's older than v1.109.0, enter the follow commands in the terminal:

   # Configures ProxyCommand for use with Okta Privileged Access
   Match exec "/cygdrive/c/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/Apps/ScaleFT/bin/sft.exe resolve -q  %h"
   ProxyCommand "/cygdrive/c/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/Apps/ScaleFT/bin/sft.exe" proxycommand  %h
   UserKnownHostsFile /cygdrive/c/Users/Admin/AppData/Local/ScaleFT/proxycommand_known_hosts
   ADDTEXT

   Note: You may need to modify the file paths to match the specific installation path on your device.
6. Save the configuration file.