Question

How to log in the server as root after setting PermitRootLogin to no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

I have set the PermitRootLogin to no in /etc/ssh/sshd_config by following the tutorial Initial Server Setup with Ubuntu 14.04. Now I cannot log in as root.

How can i log in as root? Thank you.

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Ryan Quinn • April 12, 2018

Once you’ve made and applied this change it will not be possible to connect to ssh as root. You have a couple options to use instead:

  • Log in via SSH with the new user account you created in that tutorial and use sudo to run commands as root or sudo su to launch a shell as root after you are logged in.

  • If for any reason you are not able to log in with the new account, if you are using password authentication (instead of ssh-keys) you can log into the web console in the control panel (Droplet->Access->Console) as root. The console is not powered by SSH. Instead, your droplet sees the console as it’s local keyboard and display.