// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * windows_containers/enabling-windows-container-workloads.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: PROCEDURE
[id="configuring-secret-for-wmco_{context}"]
= Configuring a secret for the Windows Machine Config Operator

[role="_abstract"]
Before you can use the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO), you must create a secret in the same WMCO namespace as your private key. 

This secret is required to allow the WMCO to communicate with the Windows virtual machine (VM). Use a different private key than the one used when installing the cluster.

.Prerequisites

* You installed the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO) using Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).
* You created a PEM-encoded file containing a private key by using a strong algorithm, such as ECDSA.
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include::snippets/wmco-key-ascii-encoding.adoc[]
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.Procedure

* Define the secret required to access the Windows VMs:
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[source,terminal]
----
$ oc create secret generic cloud-private-key --from-file=private-key.pem=${HOME}/.ssh/<key> \
    -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
----
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You must create the private key in the WMCO namespace, such as `openshift-windows-machine-config-operator`.
