Fixing Visual Studio Asking for SSH Passphrase Twice on Windows 11

If Visual Studio keeps asking for your SSH passphrase (sometimes even twice) and you see errors like:

fatal: ssh variant 'simple' does not support setting port

here’s a quick way to fix it using Windows’ built-in OpenSSH and ssh-agent.

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1. Make Git Use Windows OpenSSH

Open a terminal inside Visual Studio (View → Terminal) and run:

git config --global core.sshCommand "C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe"
git config --global ssh.variant ssh

You can verify it with:

git config --show-origin core.sshCommand
git config --show-origin ssh.variant

You should see:

• core.sshCommand = C:/Windows/System32/OpenSSH/ssh.exe
• ssh.variant = ssh

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2. Enable the OpenSSH Authentication Agent

This lets Windows remember your SSH key so you don’t type the passphrase every time.

1. Press Win + R, type services.msc, hit Enter.
2. Find OpenSSH Authentication Agent.
3. Right-click → Properties:
   • Startup type: Automatic
   • Click Start if it isn’t running.

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3. Add Your SSH Key to the Agent

In PowerShell (or the VS terminal if it’s PowerShell):

ssh-add C:\Users\YOUR_USER\.ssh\id_ed25519

(or id_rsa if that’s your key name/path).

• Enter your passphrase once.
• From now on, Visual Studio will use the key via the agent and stop asking every sync/push.

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That’s it:
✅ No more ssh variant 'simple' error
✅ No more passphrase prompt every time you sync in Visual Studio