How to fix putty error: "Putty fatal error: No supported authentication methods available (server sent: public key)"

October 9, 2019 1.9k views
Initial Server Setup
mtoepp
By:
mtoepp

I am using a new droplet with Ubuntu, and have Windows and Putty on my local machine…For setting up ssh I am following: https://www.digitalocean.com/docs/droplets/how-to/connect-with-ssh/putty/ and choosing the option to skip over “specify an ssh key…” and use login and password instead, but I get the error: “Putty fatal error: No supported authentication methods available (server sent: public key)”. I do not see any posted solutions which do not involve setting up an ssh key.

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2 Answers
alexdo MOD October 9, 2019

Hello, @mtoepp

Can you please access your server/droplet and open the ssh config file, located in:

/etc/ssh/ssh_config

And make sure that the following line is not comment out (set with # at the beginging)

PasswordAuthentication yes

If the line has # at the beginning, please remove it and then restart the ssh service:

sudo service ssh restart

If Password Authentication is set to yes, then you should be able to connect using a password.

Let me know how it goes.

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  • mtoepp October 9, 2019

    Thanks ageorgiev, I did as you said. The password authentication line was commented out. I restarted the ssh server but still had the same error.

    In case it matters, all the other options under “Host” are also commented out in that file.

    The instructions seem so simple. there’s not a lot of configuration to be done. I’m pretty sure I have the IP correct (pasted in). The other defaults were the correct ones already (ssh 2, port 22, according to the guide I was following. Under “Connection>Data>"auto-login username” I put “root”.

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alexdo MOD October 11, 2019

Hey, @mtoepp

I’m glad that you’ve sorted this out! Have a great day! :)

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