Question

I am attempting to connect to an Amazon EC2 Server via Mac Terminal. I have a PPK file that does not have a password attached to it, but when I try to connect I get a popup box that says “Enter the password for the SSH Private Key.”

So we tried creating a PPK that has a password – but it does not accept the password, it still rejects the connection.

I have a Windows user who is able to connect using the same PPK on Putty.

Has anyone experienced this issue?

Answer 1

Maybe your problem is with permissions for your key. I know in linux its required to change the permissions.

Taken from the website http://om4.com.au/ssh-rsa-key-pairs-passphrases-leopard/

1. Clear the contents of your ~/.ssh directory and set the directory permissions to 700 (directories need to be “executable”)
   $ rm ~/.ssh/*
   $ chmod 700 ~/.ssh

2. Generate your rsa key pair (there are variations for this, but this is the version I used):
   $ ssh-keygen -t rsa

3. Set the permissions for all files in ~/.ssh to 600
   $ chmod 600 ~/.ssh

4. Copy your id_rsa.pub key to your server’s .ssh/authorized_keys file

5. Add your passphrase to your keychain using this command:
   $ ssh-add -K
   (you will see Enter passphrase for [your system]/.ssh/id_rsa: )