Tag: file permissions

File permissions for successful SSH login via authorized_keys

Note: This post is 9 years old. Some information may no longer be correct or even relevant. Please, keep this in mind while reading.

If you want to ssh into your server without being repeatedly prompted for the password you can copy your public ssh key into a file called authorized_keys  in the .ssh subdirectory of the home directory of the remove server account. However, this works only if the permissions for this file are set correctly.

First, if you have not done so already, generate the public key for your local user:

ssh-keygen

This will create a file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Append the only line in this file into the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys  of the remote user account. Create the directory and file if it does not exist.

Now try to ssh into your remote account. If ssh is still asking for the remote user’s password, check the permissions of the following files and directories:

  • The permissions of the home directory of the remote user must be 755
  • The permissions of the remote .ssh directory must be 700
  • The permissions of the remote authorized_keys file must be 600

… of course all of those must be owned by the remote user, and not by root.

Now, you should be able to ssh into the remote account without being asked for the password!