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2420 sats \ 0 replies \ @jennann 20 Sep 2023 \ on: IVPN Light: short-term VPN access priced in sats, paid with Lightning bitcoin
This is great. Here is a short guide for beginners if you would like to learn how to create your own Wireguard keys without having to save data to disk, but still view it on the screen.

Generating WireGuard Keys on Windows 11 Without Admin Privileges

Why This Method?

  • No Disk Writes: Sensitive keys are not written to disk, reducing the attack surface.
  • Clipboard Isolation: The keys are isolated in the clipboard temporarily, limiting exposure.
  • Immediate Inspection: You can directly paste and inspect the keys in Notepad++, without them ever touching the filesystem.

Prerequisites

  • Windows 11 machine
  • WireGuard utilities installed
  • Notepad++ installed

Steps

  1. Open Command Prompt
    • Open a standard Command Prompt window. No need for admin privileges.
  2. Generate Private Key and Copy to Clipboard
    wg genkey | clip
    This pipes the generated private key directly to the clipboard.
  3. Paste Private Key in Notepad++
    • Open Notepad++.
    • Paste the private key and save the file as privatekey (optional).
  4. Generate Public Key
    echo "<private_key_here>" | wg pubkey
    Replace <private_key_here> with the actual private key. This will display the public key in the console.
  5. Copy Public Key
    • Manually select and copy the public key from the console output.
  6. Paste Public Key in Notepad++
    • Open a new tab in Notepad++.
    • Paste the public key and save the file as publickey (optional).

Generating WireGuard Keys on Ubuntu Without Disk Writes

Why This Method?

  • No Disk Writes: Keys aren't written to disk, reducing potential attack vectors.
  • Clipboard Isolation: Temporarily holds the keys in the clipboard to minimize exposure.
  • Immediate Inspection: Keys can be pasted into a text editor like vim or nano for immediate inspection, never touching the filesystem.

Prerequisites

  • Ubuntu machine
  • WireGuard utilities installed (sudo apt install wireguard-tools)
  • xclip installed for clipboard operations (sudo apt install xclip)

Steps

  1. Open Terminal
    Open a terminal window. No need for root privileges.
  2. Generate Private Key and Copy to Clipboard
    wg genkey | xclip -selection clipboard
    This command pipes the generated private key directly to the clipboard.
  3. Paste Private Key in Text Editor
    • Open a text editor like vim or nano.
    • Paste the private key (Ctrl-Shift-V in terminal) and save the file as privatekey if needed.
  4. Generate Public Key
    echo "<private_key_here>" | wg pubkey
    Replace <private_key_here> with the actual private key. The corresponding public key will be displayed in the terminal.
  5. Copy Public Key
    • Manually select and copy the public key from the terminal output.
  6. Paste Public Key in Text Editor
    • Open a new tab or window in your text editor.
    • Paste the public key and save the file as publickey if needed.
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