SOLUTION FOUND !!

I've also been having the private-public key pair problem. freeSSHd as server, putty as client, puttygen for keys.

I've been getting the "Access denied" error that most people have.

The solution was simple. DO NOT USE "Save public key" IN PUTTYGEN. Copy and paste the key from the text box to a text editor and save it!!

OMG, that is Step 3 in the second post of this thread.

Please read our instructions carefully next time

Regards

Hallo.
I use Freesshd, as server on my Windows 2003.
client - scp command under Linux.
I generate my public and private keys in folder /home/user/.ssh/ ,
copy public key into c:program filesfreesshd, show this folder
to server in Authentication->Public Keys Folder.
It's allright with connect with command
scp -P 50505 /home/user/backup.tgz
, but in the end it's wrote

Permission denied (publickey)
lost connection.
i generate keys with ssh-keygen under Linux
what is the problem?

I have been just beating my head for a while now to make this work:

Server - Windows XP with freeSSHd server
Client - sftp client on AIX

Added a user 'testuser' and added it to the 'users' section in the freeSSHd with all options allowed.
Using putty,connected to AIX and created pub/pri key using 'ssh-keygen rsa' on AIX. Copied the public key to file C:Program FilesfreeSSHdtestuser where 'C:Program FilesfreeSSHd' set as Public key folder.
Password Authentication and Public Key Authentication are set to 'allowed'
Restarted the server.

Using putty, connected to AIX and used sftp as following:
sftp testuser@servername

The output:
Permission denied (publickey).
Connection closed

Am I missing anything?

Thansk for your help.

Quote:

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[quote]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.[/quote]

I have noticed that to restart server it isn't the same as stop and start server. U must unload server and load it up again then it will be restarted. Strange!

With key authentication server session runnig only under user SYSTEM! Bad! How to running under login-user?

Quote:

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With key authentication server session runnig only under user SYSTEM! Bad! How to running under login-user?

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Hi,

User impersonation with key authentication only is impossible (only NT authentication supports that). You can always change the account under which freeSSHdService is running and give it less privileges. By the way, why is it so bad? You trust people you gave access to your server, right?

Regards,
Grof

Worked.
thank you

Last poster is correct as is MitchyMitch:

Tricks are:

1. Follow the directions in 2nd post exactly.
2. When you paste the public key into Notepad, do not name it with a standard .TXT extention. Don't put ANY file extention on it. Make the name of the file the same as your login name. If you login as "bork" then the filename should be "bork". That's it on that.
3. Stick the file wherever you've told the GUI the public key folder is on the Authentication tab.
4. Always stop and start the service using Control-Panel, Services (or Admin Tools, Services...however your Windows is set up.) Don't use the tray icon to do this - it doesn't work per previous posts and hasn't been fixed as of this writing.

Hope this helps.

To add to the list of solutions... here is what worked for me in v1.2.0.

1. Generate your key using PuTTYgen.
2. Create a public key by using the copy-paste method as described in the second post. Rename this to the username you will use to connect with (no extension) and place it in the public key folder listed on the Authentication tab of freeSSHd.
3. Create a private key using the "save private key" button in the PuTTYgen window. This is the key you will use on the client computer under ssh/auth.
4. Export an OpenSSH key using the menu option in PuTTYgen (Conversions/ Export OpenSSH key). Place this where you want. THIS is the key you will use in freeSHHd on the SSH tab.

So essentially you have 3 DIFFERENT FILES. The public key (named to correspond with the logon name), the PuTTY private key for the client, and the OpenSSH key to use within freeSSHd's SSH settings.