SSH key question

[Chris Green]

On Thu, Dec 10, 2020 at 10:09:10AM -0800, MR ZenWiz wrote:
> I have three machines set up on my home network with remote file copy
> and ssh interactions.  I have my desktop "base" machine set up for
> password-free remote access to the two laptops, but for some reason, I
> can't get the same access from one of the laptops back to the base.
> 
> I generated the proper keys with ssh-genkey, then I used ssh-copy-id
> to send the keys to the target machine.  As I said, done from the base
> to both of the laptops, it works fine.  I even have remote access to
> my partners laptop from the base using her id for the remote actions.
> 
> However, from my own laptop, I can't get password-free access, via ssh
> or rsync, to my base desktop.  I either put up with the password
> prompt, or ssh to the base from the laptop and run the file transfers
> from the remote base login to/from the laptop because that way it does
> not require passwords.
> 
> What am I missing?
> 
> Sequences:
> 
> base: ssh-genkey
> base: ssh-copy-id <laptop>
> base: complete remote login
> base: ssh <laptop> - password-free login
> 
> This works.
> 
> laptop: ssh-genkey
> laptop: ssh-copy-id <base>
> laptop: complete remote login
> laptop: ssh <base> - requires I enter the password
> 
> This does not work.
> 
I'm not sure if I'm teaching grandmother to suck eggs, but still...

Have you got an agent running on one system and not the other?

Were you generating passphraseless keys with ssh-genkey or were you
using a passphrase?  If they were passphraseless then I'm stumped but
if they have passphrases then maybe you have the passphrase stored (in
an agent) on your desktop but not on your laptop.


... or I suppose you might have 'only allow password authentication'
set up on your desktop so passphrases don't work (unlikely I think).



-- 
Chris Green