Using ssh-keygen from WSL to generate an SSH key

SSH keys are useful to enable access to networked resources.  

The command ssh-keygen (the OpenSSH authentication key utilit) can be used to generate keys.

Example usage:  ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "myemail@mydomain.com".  

The -t option signifies type, and ed25519 refers to the algorithm based on Elliptic Curve Cryptography using an Edwards curve (the recommended default - it competes with RSA which is needed for compatibility with older systems). The -C flag provides a new comment. 

What gets generated is actually a pair of keys, a private key (stored locally) and a public key (stored on the server, but reference copy is typically stored locally too, in your .ssh directory).  It is an asymmetric authentication (not encryption) protocol.

info ssh-keygen will help you decode other command line options for generating keys.

The generated keys are stored in ~/.ssh.