One-Click SSH Connection to Your Ender 5 Max — Automatic Setup for Windows

Tired of typing your IP address and password every time you connect to your Ender 5 Max via SSH? This guide sets up a passwordless, one-click connection in under 5 minutes. Double-click the Desktop shortcut — you’re in.

Why Do This?

Every time you connect to your Ender 5 Max via SSH, you have to:

Remember the IP address
Type the full ssh root@192.168.X.XXX command
Type the password — blindly, with no feedback

This gets old fast. By setting up SSH key authentication, your PC and your Ender 5 Max recognize each other automatically — no password, no command to remember. Just double-click the shortcut on your Desktop.

How It Works

Standard SSH uses a password to verify your identity. SSH key authentication replaces that with a cryptographic key pair:

A private key stays on your PC — never shared, never transmitted
A public key is installed on the Nebula Pad — like a lock that only your private key can open

When you connect, your PC and the Nebula Pad perform a cryptographic handshake in milliseconds. If the keys match, you’re in — instantly, with no password prompt.

🔒 This is actually more secure than a password — a key cannot be guessed or brute-forced.

Prerequisites

Root access enabled on your Ender 5 Max Nebula Pad (see our How to Enable Root Access guide)
SSH connection working (see our How to Connect via SSH guide)
Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) or Windows 11
The IP address of your Nebula Pad

Option A — Automatic Setup

Choose this option if you want everything configured in one run with no manual steps.

Step 1 — Download the Installer

Download the setup file: → E5M DOC – CK – Auto SSH.bat Save it anywhere on your PC — your Desktop or Downloads folder is fine.

Step 2 — Run the Installer

Double-click E5M DOC – CK – Auto SSH.bat to launch it.

⚠️ Windows may show a security warning — “Windows protected your PC”. Click “More info” then “Run anyway”. This is a standard warning for unsigned scripts downloaded from the internet.

A black console window will open and walk you through the setup.

Step 3 — Enter Your Details

The installer will ask for two pieces of information:

Nebula Pad IP address — e.g. 192.168.1.XXX (visible in Settings → Network on the pad)
SSH username — type root

Step 4 — Enter Your Password One Last Time

The installer will copy your public key to the Nebula Pad. For this one operation, it needs your SSH password.

⚠️ Enter the password displayed on your Nebula Pad (Settings → System → Root account information) and press Enter — no characters will appear on screen, this is normal.

This is the last time you will ever need to type this password.

Step 5 — Use the Desktop Shortcut

Once the installer completes successfully, a file named E5M DOC – CK – Auto SSH will appear on your Desktop. From now on, double-click it to connect instantly to your Ender 5 Max — no IP, no password, no waiting.

Option B — Manual Setup

Choose this option if you want to understand exactly what is being configured and do it yourself step by step.

Step 1 — Generate an RSA Key Pair

Open PowerShell and run:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048 -C "E5M-Nebula" -f "$env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_rsa" -N ""

This creates two files in C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\:

id_rsa — your private key (never share this)
id_rsa.pub — your public key (this gets installed on the Nebula Pad)

⚠️ If a key already exists, skip this step — you do not want to overwrite an existing key used for other connections.

Step 2 — Copy the Public Key to the Nebula Pad

Run the following command — replace 192.168.1.XXX with your IP:

type "$env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_rsa.pub" | ssh root@192.168.1.XXX "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cat > ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chown root:root ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

This installs your public key in the Nebula Pad’s authorized_keys file — the list of trusted keys that are allowed to connect without a password.

⚠️ You will be asked for the password one last time for this step. Use the password displayed on your Nebula Pad (Settings → System → Root account information).

Step 3 — Configure SSH Compatibility

The Nebula Pad uses Dropbear — a lightweight SSH server that requires explicit compatibility settings for modern Windows SSH clients. Add the following to your SSH config file. Open PowerShell and run:

Add-Content "$env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\config" "`nHost 192.168.1.XXX`n    PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa`n    HostkeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa"

Replace 192.168.1.XXX with your Nebula Pad’s IP address.

⚠️ If C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\config already exists, check that no duplicate entry is added for the same IP.

Step 4 — Create the Desktop Shortcut

Create a .bat file on your Desktop. Open Notepad, paste the following — replace 192.168.1.XXX with your IP:

@echo off
title E5M DOC - CK - Auto SSH
ssh root@192.168.1.XXX

Save it as E5M DOC - CK - Auto SSH.bat on your Desktop. Double-click it — you should now connect instantly with no password prompt.

Bonus — Pin the Shortcut to your Taskbar

Windows does not allow .bat files to be pinned directly to the taskbar. To get a proper pinnable shortcut, you need to create a .lnk shortcut that points to cmd.exe — which Windows recognizes as a real executable.

Right-click on your Desktop → New → Shortcut
In the Location field, paste the following — replace the path if your .bat file is not on the Desktop:

cmd.exe /c ""C:\Users\YourName\Desktop\E5M DOC - CK - Auto SSH.bat""

Name the shortcut: E5M DOC - CK - Auto SSH
Click Finish
Right-click the new shortcut → Pin to taskbar

✅ This .lnk shortcut points to cmd.exe — a real Windows executable — which is why pinning to the taskbar is allowed.

⚠️ Replace YourName with your actual Windows username in the path. If your .bat file is in a different folder, adjust the path accordingly.

Troubleshooting

Still asking for a password

The key may not have been installed correctly — re-run Option A or repeat Step 2 of Option B
Check that ~/.ssh/authorized_keys exists on the Nebula Pad:

ssh root@192.168.1.XXX "cat ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

“WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED”

This happens if your Nebula Pad’s IP was previously used by another device, or after a factory reset
Fix it by running:

ssh-keygen -R 192.168.1.XXX

Then reconnect and accept the new key. Windows security warning on the .bat file

Click “More info” → “Run anyway” — this is a standard Windows warning for unsigned scripts

Note for macOS & Linux Users

The same principle applies — SSH key authentication works identically on macOS and Linux. Use ssh-keygen in Terminal to generate your key, ssh-copy-id to install it on the Nebula Pad, and create an alias or shell script as your shortcut.

What’s Next?

How to Install Fluidd and Mainsail on the Ender 5 Max — get a professional web interface to control your printer from any browser (coming soon)

Compatible Printers

This tutorial was written and tested on the Creality Ender 5 Max with firmware v1.2.0.21. The procedure applies to any Creality printer using the Nebula Pad with root access enabled. The automatic installer (Option A) is Windows only. Option B works on any platform.

Tutorial by Christian KELHETTER — feel free to share and adapt with credit. v1.0 — April 2026