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.