So 2 days later after googling and compiling a number of different articles together until I can make any sense of it all I have managed to generate a key and copy it to the .ssh/authorized keys file.

So I logged out of putty, that's the console/client I am using and it asks for a login. Do I still log in as root with my new passphrase? or have a missed a step ?

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I am new, real new, with no technical ability at all. everything reads like chinese and what should have taken 5 mins takes me a day

When you generated the key using PuttyGen you have to save the private key somewhere and then specify the filename in the connection setup of putty under SSH -> Auth (don't forget to save the connection details). Then it should work. You said you already copied the public key to the server.

The only thing you'll be asked for at login is the password you specified for the private key if you set one. You'll be logged in as the user that has the public key in their .ssh/authorized_keys file.

Under windows you can also use pagent to cache keys and that has to be allowed in that sessions configuration. Very handy though.

That's what I did, only when I go into Putty, I have to put in a login. I go in as root and then I am asked for the passphrase which I put in. i do get connected but I thought the whole point was not to log in as root

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I am new, real new, with no technical ability at all. everything reads like chinese and what should have taken 5 mins takes me a day

You can disable root log ins completely by editing your '/etc/ssh/ssd_config' and finding the "PermitRootLogin" option and set it to "no":

PermitRootLogin no

Or, you could set root logins to only work if you connect via SSH using an SSH pubkey:

PermitRootLogin without-password

After making this change restart SSH:

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

-Tim

Thanks theckman. i will a do little more research into disable root logins and decide upon which is better

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I am new, real new, with no technical ability at all. everything reads like chinese and what should have taken 5 mins takes me a day

That avatar looks like some kind of creepy inflatable sex toy.

James

I don't know how, but I distinctly heard the sound of a needle skidding off of a record when I read that.

Oh, don't pretend you weren't thinking the same thing...