SSH Agent Forwarding Troubleshooting (Windows → Linux Jump Box) Problem Running on the jump box: ssh-add -l Error: Could not open a connection to your authentication agent. Or on Windows: ssh-add %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_ed25519 Error: Error connecting to agent: No such file or directory Root Cause The local Windows OpenSSH Authentication Agent ( ssh-agent ) was not running. Without a running local SSH agent: ssh-add cannot load the private key. ssh -A has no identities to forward. The jump box cannot access the forwarded SSH key. Troubleshooting Steps 1. Check the SSH Agent status (Windows) sc query ssh-agent If the output contains: STATE : STOPPED the service must be started. 2. Enable automatic startup Run Command Prompt as Administrator: sc config ssh-agent start=auto 3. Start the SSH Agent net start ssh-agent Expected: The OpenSSH Authentication Agent service was started successfully. 4. Add the private key ssh-add %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_ed25519 Expected: Identity added: 5. Ve...