What is the correct way to set up sshwindows for SSH key authentication? Does the user need to be created in Windows first or can a login be inserted into passwd without a Windows equivalent?

I've searched on Google and have tried the tutorials and quick start guides. So far, exactly 0 have worked.

None pointed out that to work in Windows 2008 R2, you need to change the properties of cygrunsrv.exe to "Windows XP SP3" compability mode to even get past the service startup "error 1067". Although it is running, no amount of configuration allowed me to log on to the SFTP server, even though I tried (from another machine):

• same user account added using "mkpasswd" + windows password
• same user account added using "mkpasswd" + public ssh key (added to /home/theuser/.ssh)

On Windows 2003 R2 (a different attempt), the service would crash every time it started up.

Some links I went through

• http://pigtail.net/LRP/printsrv/cygwin-sshd.html
• http://forevergeeks.com/how-to-setup-a-secure-ftp-sftp-site-with-openssh-on-windows/
• http://support.moonpoint.com/os/windows/server2003/openssh-service-not-starting.html