SSH Keys with FE File Explorer Pro

Following posts by Dr. Drang and Federico, I’ve been experimenting with FE File Explorer Pro. I learned a few things I thought I’d share:

As I noted previously, I only allow SFTP connections to my server with SSH keys. As of Mojave, ssh-keygen uses a new default key file format that is causing trouble for me on non-Mojave sources. By adding -m PEN to the call, you can force the use of the older PEM private key format:

ssh-keygen -m PEM -b 2048 -t rsa -f id_rsa_uniquename -P ""

In order for File Explorer Pro to use the SSH key file from the Files extension, the file needs to be in the app’s /Local/ folder, as opposed to /Local/On My iPhone/.

Even though the popover bar includes a ‘Favorite’ button, adding folders on from your SFTP destination to the Files ‘Favorites’ set is not supported by the app.