Give Windows OpenSSH an Explicit SOCKS5 Ncat Command

If Ncat is already available to Windows OpenSSH, it can provide the connection through a SOCKS5 proxy. Add a host entry to the SSH configuration used by that OpenSSH client:

Host target-via-socks
    HostName ssh.example
    User user
    ProxyCommand ncat.exe --proxy-type socks5 --proxy proxy.example:1080 %h %p

Replace both hostnames and the account, then connect with ssh target-via-socks. This example assumes ncat.exe is in the helper’s executable search path. Otherwise use the properly quoted full executable path, especially when the directory contains spaces.

The proxy endpoint belongs after --proxy. OpenSSH expands %h and %p to the final SSH hostname and port. Ncat negotiates the SOCKS connection and carries the resulting byte stream on standard input and output; OpenSSH continues its SSH handshake over that stream.

The explicit --proxy-type socks5 matters. Ncat defaults to an HTTP proxy when that option is absent, even if the supplied port is 1080. A SOCKS listener cannot infer that an HTTP CONNECT request was meant to be SOCKS.

This example assumes an unauthenticated SOCKS endpoint; choose a candidate from the SOCKS5 proxy list only for a public SSH destination where that route is permitted, and check access to its actual host and port. Proxy authentication, when required, is separate from the later SSH login. Preserve verification of the SSH destination’s host key; reaching it through a helper does not change the identity that OpenSSH should authenticate.