Sorry, can't get the private key to work with or without a phrase. If I just enter the password in plain text, it works fine.
Using client As New SshClient(strServerIP, 22, strAccount, "mypassword") 'this works
It's looks like I do generate a valid key on my server. The code errors out on the client.Connect() command. It shows an error telling me "User cannot be authenticated" when I try to use a private key.