Thanks to Kevin Hilton and Karuna Govind of NZ/UK

http://www.kgx.net.nz/2010/03/cygwin-sshd-and-windows-7/

How to uninstall/install cygwin under Vista or Windows 7:

You need to uninstall any previous traces of cygwin sshd first:

Uninstall Steps
(From previous attempted failed installations)

In Administrator shell
1. net stop sshd
2. cygrunsrv -R sshd
3. net user

Delete any user listed like sshd or sshd_server.  
The following syntax is to be used:
  net user sshd /DELETE

4. rm -R /etc/ssh*
5. mkpasswd -cl > /etc/passwd
6. mkgroup --local > /etc/group

In User shell
1. cd ~
2. rm -R .ssh

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Windows Vista:

Installation Steps (by Kevin Hilton)

In Administrator shell
1. ssh-host-config -y
2. net start sshd

In User shell
1. ssh-user-config (Answer questions as appropriate to your situation)
2. Test connection:
   ssh -vvv localhost
   
Then go to Control Panel ... Windows Firewall, open inbound TCP port 22.
(Thanks to Frank Gerlach of Baden-Wurttemberg of Germany)  

Windows 7:  (thanks to David Shanks for his contribution)

Find the setup.exe and right click that icon and select "Run As Administrator"
For Windows 7, even if you are a user with administrative rights, it does not have the same power
as "right click.. Run as Administrator".


***********************************************

Installation Steps (by Karuna Govind from NZ/UK)

How to run sshd as an existing user (Cygwin 1.7.1 and Windows 7):

(I think for Windows 7, if you invoke setup.exe with "right click...Run as Administrator, 
the messy additional privileges tweaks will not be necessary).

1. Follow Kevin's "Uninstall Steps" if required.

2. Decide on a user account that you want to run the sshd process under. This can be Administrator as well except its disabled on Windows 7 by default (it can be enabled by running lusrmgr.msc). For these instructions, lets say you want a user called MyUser to run sshd.

3. Check existing permissions for MyUser (in case you need to rollback):

      	editrights -l -u MyUser 

4. Add additional privileges to allow sshd to run properly:

      	editrights.exe -a SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege -u MyUser 

      	editrights.exe -a SeCreateTokenPrivilege -u MyUser 

      	editrights.exe -a SeTcbPrivilege -u MyUser 

      	editrights.exe -a SeServiceLogonRight -u MyUser 

5. Run ssh-host-config (don't force the -y option)

      	ssh-host-config

6. Answer yes to all questions making sure when it asks "Do you want to use a different name?", say "yes" (this question is different with the -y option)

7. Enter your desired username (sshd is suggested) and password when you are prompted. You should *not* see any warnings. If you see warnings, you might not have set all privileges correctly

8. If all goes well, start sshd:

      net start sshd
          

Disclaimer: 
Do this at your risk. Since your user gets these additional permissions, it may cause a few security issues (I can't see any major issues though). More info: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd277311.aspx


Last updated: 2011-02-19