I tried settuping up freeSSHd server at home and connecting by using Putty.. I can connect to the server, but I keep getting Access Denied after I enter password. I've copied the private key's hash to the correct folder on server machine and exported the private key .ppk to the client computer with and without passphrase, it still gives me Access Denied when I enter password.

I noticed on some of those screenshots that Putty.exe seems to be different version now. Can that be why it's not working? I can't seem to find what the problem could be otherwise.

When I try to connect with Putty from my computer to that same computer running freeSSHd I get the following error message: “Authenticating with public key ‘#####’ Access Denied”

I used PuttyGen to create a SSH-2 RSA 1024 bit public/private key pair. I copied the public key from the PuttyGen window into a text file, changed the username at the end of the text file to "= user1", changed the filename to user1 and placed it in the following folder: C:Program FilesfreeSSHdssh_public_keys. I then changed the path for public keys in freesshd to C:Program FilesFreeSSHDssh_public_keys. That means that the path to my public key is: C:Program FilesfreeSSHdssh_public_keysuser1. Yes, user1 is also the name of the user I created in freesshd.

The private key I stored in C:Program FilesPuttyKeys and told Putty to connect using my private key by navigating to Connnection->SSH->Auth and selecting the private key.

The following options were changed from their defaults. All other options remain at their defaults.

FreeSShd 1.0.11 Settings
SSH
Hostkey
1024 bit RSA key was generated, I tested it by
clicking “Test Key”
Encryption
Allowed ciphers: ONLY AES (128, 192 and 256 bits)
Allowed MACs: MD5
Authentication
Password Authentication: Required
Public Key Authentication: Required
Users
user1
Password stored as SHA1 hash
Shell, SFTP, Tunneling enabled
Logging
Log events are enabled, but the log only shows server
started and stopped, no records of clients’ attempts
to connect

Putty 0.59 Settings
Hostname: localhost
SSH
SSH 2 only
Auth
loaded private key corresponding to public key on server

I tried changing freesshd authentications for password and public key to allowed but that did not work. I also tried unchecking the “attempt authentication using Pageant” for Putty, still did not work. I am using Windows XP Home SP2 fully updated. I allow freesshd through the firewall but that should not be an issue because I am only trying to connect to it from localhost. I also made sure to register freesshd as a system service AND I logged the freesshd service on as my username for Windows XP, giving it more privileges. Someone posted a link about that and supposedly it solves a rare error with public keys. It seems other people have my problem as well, maybe when a solution appears this will solve their problems too.

I really appreciate you guys making a free ssh server, any suggestions are welcome, thanks.

Hi you all,
i got it working after many tries and retries.

I changed a lot of setting changes so i really couldn't understand which one could eventually be left out ...

I run Microsoft Windows Vista 32 bit.

I will try to put it as clearest as possible.

1 - PuttyGen -> make public/private keys. Saved private key in a .ppk file which is on the client machine i.e where there's Putty installed. I copied the content of the displayed public key in PuttyGen window in a file with the same name as my windows user i.e :
I created a text file named nicola with such content:
ssh-rsa ......... rsa-key-20070330
where instead of the dots, there's a value I want to keep hidden.

2 - Putty -> set this configuration:
- Connection / Data / Login Details / auto-login username : myusername (in my case nicola)
- Connection / SSH / Auth / Authentication Parameters / Private Key file for authentication : <full path to file on client PC> [the exported .ppk private key file from puttygen created in step 1]

3 - On the server Machine:
System Configuration ([Vista] Start - Control Panel - System and Manteinance - System - Advanced System Settings).
Then go to Environment Variables and make sure there is (if there's not, such as in my case, create it) an environmet variable
named USERNAME. Then assign to env.variable USERNAME the proper vallue (in my case nicola).

4 - Download and launch freeUserImport.exe. Make sure that freeSSHd is unloaded. Select only user you want to allow (in my case guess what? nicola) enable all services.

5 - Launch freeSSHd. Check there's your user.
Authentication: set the public key folder path to a folder in which you place a copy of the file named as your username created in step 1 (containing the public key, in my case nicola).
Password : allowed
PublicKey required

(optional)
5 - tunneling : enabled local and remote port forwarding

6 - unload and relaunch freeSSHd.exe


Hope this might help

NOTE to developer:
1 - great job I love this server and is really pretty also
2 - this thing of the public key named same as the user is a little tricky ... wouldn't it be better to set the not just the folder to the public key but the FILE instance instead?

and dont forget to restart the service before using the new key!

hi there

i have a problem with private/public keys and freeSSH 1.1c

when i try to connect to the ssh server my puttywindow just get closed after entering the passphrase.

does anyone here got a clue what i am doing wrong?

i tried several ways to get this running.

i created the public/privat key on the client machine and copied the keyfile to the server.

i created the keys on the server and copied the .ppk file to the client.

i geht the errormessage "Failed to import key from file." when i want to use my puttykey for the RSA key.

thx for help

Quote:

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Finally got it working here.

1. windows 2000 server, username 'engineer'
2. installed freesshd, configured authentication to
Password: Disabled
Public Key: Required
3. Created c:Documents and Settingsengineerssh_public_keys
4. create file called 'engineer' with openssh key of the form

ssh-dss Blurb<cut>Blurb Some Comment

Note that there MUST be a comment after the key (separated
by a space) or the key don't work!

5. Apply/Save
6. Test and it works

The problem I had was that I did not have a comment after the key. Putting some arbitrary text in as a comment started things working!

Matthew

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just to update this freesshd version - 1.0.10 though my apply to later versions. just noticed a little difference in the password error messages.

If you enter the private(RSA) keys password incorrectly it says - "Wrong passphrase"

If you enter the private(RSA) keys password correctly it says - "access denied"

If it says "access denied" try to enter the users password and it should connect.

Quote:

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If you are using private key and password required. and have setup as directed at the start of this topic, copied key straight to notpad from puttygen. Named the file as the username etc.

Then tried to connect

You entered the login name.

It asks for Key password (assuming this was set).
You definately typed the password correctly
but it displays 'Denied'

and re prompts for a password.

However I noticed this is no longer the Key password, but the user password.

Entering the user password now and the connection works. Basically what I am trying to get across is that if you have a private key and password set to require. Dont be put off by the first denied message. It is purely because it still needs the user password so denies the connection at that stage.

If you use Pageant and add the key first. I dont get the denied message at all. Just authenticates the key and asks for the user password.

Hope this helps someone.

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Hi all,
here is my experience with the 'access denied' error:
After a lot of attempts with the last version of freeSSHd (1.1.0c), I decided to turn back to the previous (1.0.10): all started to function, with this environment:
laptop with Windows XP SP2 and last updates.
Putty 0.60 (last version)

FreeSSHd 1.0.10.

My Keys:
generated with PuttyGen: i saved private key (protected with a passphrase) and public key in a folder (it doesn't matter wich one), AND 'cut&paste'ed public key from PuttyGen in a text file, named with the name of user (for instance 'dan'), AND put in a sub-folder of my freeSSHd installation (sub-folder named ssh_authorized_keys)


PuTTY configuration:
Only the path to private key, in menu Connection -> SSH -> Auth

FreeSSHd configuration: New user 'dan' created with all permissions (Shell, Sftp and tunnel), with authorization settings 'Password stored as SHA1 hash' (1.0.10 version doesn't show 'public key' settings); General Authentication settings (menù SSH -> Authoentication) with password authentication disabled and public key authentication 'Allowed' or 'Required'.


This was nearly the same configuration I was using with 1.1.0c. Then I remembered that somewhere in this forum someone decided to reinstall it and all started to work properly.
So i did the same thing and now evenythng works WITH THE LAST version 1.1.0c.
Don't know why, but with the second installation problems disappear.

Hope this can help.



Bye!

Hi all!

With regard to 'Access denied' problem, I've found this: when you install freeSSHd as a Windows Service, with 'manual' startup (so that you have to start the service manually), and then you start freeSSHd console from start menù, you're able to start/stop server from console (you can see the green/red icon, and with netstat -a you see that port 22 is in use), but if you try to connect, you get the 'Access denied' message (and if you see from services list inside of control panel of windows, you see the the freeSSHd service is always stopped). Instead, if you start freeSSHd service from Control Panel ->...->Services, you get in the tray area the icon of freeSSHd console, as usual (and you can start to administer srver with the console; and, of course, with netstat -a you can see that port 22 is in use, again), and if you try to connect, everything goes fine! BUT: if you stop and then restart service from inside the console, you get the 'Access denied' error again; if you stop and restart service from Windows services, eveything goes fine.

Conclusion: if you install freeSSHd as a windows service, you cannot use freeSSHd console for starting/stopping server, you have to use Windows Services.

Hope this can help!

Bye!

Quote:

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Hi all,
here is my experience with the 'access denied' error:
After a lot of attempts with the last version of freeSSHd (1.1.0c), I decided to turn back to the previous (1.0.10): all started to function, with this environment:
laptop with Windows XP SP2 and last updates.
Putty 0.60 (last version)

FreeSSHd 1.0.10.

My Keys:
generated with PuttyGen: i saved private key (protected with a passphrase) and public key in a folder (it doesn't matter wich one), AND 'cut&paste'ed public key from PuttyGen in a text file, named with the name of user (for instance 'dan'), AND put in a sub-folder of my freeSSHd installation (sub-folder named ssh_authorized_keys)


PuTTY configuration:
Only the path to private key, in menu Connection -> SSH -> Auth

FreeSSHd configuration: New user 'dan' created with all permissions (Shell, Sftp and tunnel), with authorization settings 'Password stored as SHA1 hash' (1.0.10 version doesn't show 'public key' settings); General Authentication settings (menù SSH -> Authoentication) with password authentication disabled and public key authentication 'Allowed' or 'Required'.


This was nearly the same configuration I was using with 1.1.0c. Then I remembered that somewhere in this forum someone decided to reinstall it and all started to work properly.
So i did the same thing and now evenythng works WITH THE LAST version 1.1.0c.
Don't know why, but with the second installation problems disappear.

Hope this can help.



Bye!

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I would just like to note that following these directions worked for me with version 1.20.