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Followed instructions. Setup SSH keys but server still prompts for password

Posted on November 17, 2016

I followed these instructions: (more than once! I have repeated the process VERY carefully several times) https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-ssh-keys-with-digitalocean-droplets

However, I get to step 5:

“However, now when you connect from a machine that shares the key pair, there will be no need to enter a password to log into the root user.”

THIS IS NOT TRUE:

~ $ssh root@138.197.6.195
The authenticity of host '138.197.6.195 (138.197.6.195)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:QaJBHcKBwzqiHbXeNsuTS07h7m4COyU6SyVrpCG6upE.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '138.197.6.195' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
root@138.197.6.195's password:

password??? WHY???

If the instructions are wrong please correct them.



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"All other information from OC becomes suspect. They have introduced a full workday delay into our process. Multiple man hours have been spent following all sorts of remedies found everywhere on the internet in part because they discharge support duties on presumably unpaid "fan" volunteers in this forum who have no accountability for our time, and certainly are not in an authoritative position to offer a proper response beyond "guessing". "

I always thought the the whole point of having a forum was so users could help each other out. I think I get more support and real-time answers from forums than anywhere else.

DigitalOcean provides a totally awesome forum for users. You used it and got some quick suggestions to your problem that helped you along.

If you are going to be working with remote servers you will probably find yourself back here at some point. Stuff happens. It can be difficult to troubleshoot complex setups. There is a learning curve so it can be helpful to have a community of other techies to talk over things with.

You can also paste in the Userify script into the User Data section when booting up a droplet. This will let your droplet pull in your team’s public keys from Userify servers and you won’t have to mess around with it (although DigitalOcean’s key deployment system works great… there’s just no automated way to do any of the other stuff that Userify does, like key removal or setting up new users or removing sudo/root for individual users after the droplet is created.)

Thank you both. This all might be true. I will try these things. But the bigger issue here is whether Digital Ocean is a reliable business partner. I am following the official instructions (the are on OC’s site anyway and appea written under the direction of OC)

All other information from OC becomes suspect. They have introduced a full workday delay into our process. Multiple man hours have been spent following all sorts of remedies found everywhere on the internet in part because they discharge support duties on presumably unpaid “fan” volunteers in this forum who have no accountability for our time, and certainly are not in an authoritative position to offer a proper response beyond “guessing”.

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