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Community ▶ Questions ▶ Root user can't use a key in Ubuntu 8.04?
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Root user can't use a key in Ubuntu 8.04?

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I've set up my admin user to log in using the public/private key method, but for some reason, when I do the same with my root user, it doesn't work. Anybody know why?

In sshd_config, relevant code:

RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
# AuthorizedKeysFile    %h/.ssh/authorized_keys
PermitRootLogin yes
AllowUsers pshields root

Then I saved the public key in /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

However, though my admin login works, the root login denies my key. Any ideas why?

3 Replies

1. Uncomment the AuthorizedKeyFile line.

AuthorizedKeysFile   %h/.ssh/authorized_keys

2. Restart SSH.

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

See if this works…..

Also, check the permissions on the .ssh directory and the authorized_keys file. If they aren't correct, ssh will reject the key.

For security purposes, you should either use sudo, or su - to go to root, but only after you've logged it from a limited user account.

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