How To Use SSH Keys To Login On a Server Securely Without Password

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Here we are going to learn how to use SSH Keys to login on a server Securely without password.

SSH Keys To Login On a Server Securely Without Password

Entering the server password can annoying if you need to access it multiple times. Enabling password option gives scope for possible brute force attacks. The public-private key pair is much faster, easier and secure.

Creating the Key:

On the client machine, use the command:

ssh-keygen

Enter any file name if want it to be different from the default and hit enter.

Skip the passphrase.

Now the keys are stored in the home directory of the user in .ssh folder. (The ‘.’ means that the folder is hidden and won’t be visible in the file explorer/finder if hidden files are turned off)

Copy the Key

Use ls and look for the key with .pub (which is the public key). Use cat <filename> to view its contents. Then copy the output.

cd /users/arpitgupta(your username here)/.ssh

Arpits-MacBook-Pro:.ssh arpitgupta$ ls
id_rsa		id_rsa.pub	known_hosts

Arpits-MacBook-Pro:.ssh arpitgupta$ cat id_rsa.pub
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDzf8HQULVrxtP+nBEEwVvK3FRHmaqd3FL3vlxQmVJ0ZDXFIfvdG+T37g/aiAVppaBh06jGhdL6z7T0yh0GvWyezpe55V3VVggK0dHnkbAnbruQ/IAHbfs7s58DSM3qg5uBHkW/sC/s78aAY1Hnh3neWkzoBnsWKgFP0V/ck+UX0d0RiG7jcQOuDdvZMYldKJoIcXtU4AZ+NiZN07s++QGSRv3bUvKnI8Fm8Vuao5E2HQsE9ArcylBZ+KpzLGZxckJWS+576Ivl06+tVRslYAaiWs6RP2vX2evcxThK3SDCqqAt+cfB1tHbhylz8ZkDZNEwSciGjs02xCyDPbjlTahZ arpitgupta@Arpits-MacBook-Pro.local

Paste in Server

On the server side, go to the home directory again and paste the key in .ssh/authorized_keys

cd ~
mkdir .ssh
touch authorized_keys
nano authorized_keys

This will open a text editor in the terminal and you can paste the key in there

Press ctrl+x to exit and then y to save.

Permit Keylogin and Rootlogin

Use the following command to edit SSH configuration:

root@kali:~# nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Now search for the following parameters and remove the pound sign(#) from the starting of their lines.

You can also type them as it is.

PubkeyAuthentication yes

PermitRootLogin yes

That’s it!

You are done with the setup.

If you try to SSH into your machine now, you would not be prompted for a password!

Also, learn

How To Use Secure Shell (SSH) And Access A Server Remotely