root login via ssh fedora 12 password authentication

[mattmarion]

Can't seem to do it, wondering if anyone knows how? Normally there's something in sshd_config that can be switched to true or yes to allow root login but I can't see it in fedora 12.

I can login via root at a terminal no problem, just not via ssh, I get access denied every time. Also, I need to login using password authentication.

I've done: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=227169 but that's just for GUI which I don't really need since I rarely ever log into the GUI.

I have also searched through here and mostly only found info such as above, how to enable root login for GUI, or billions of posts about how loging in as root is bad but I cannot find the answer to my question.

DISCLAIMER: Please do not reply to this thread if all you can contribute is the question of why I need root or to put some message telling me I can do everything using su, etc, etc. Please only contribute if you can answer my question. A: My machine and a valid quesiton. B: Spirit of Linux is open, not restrictive.

Thanks and have a great day.

Hello,
The ability to log in through ssh as root is enabled by default. The file that you would edit to control that is /etc/ssh/sshd_config or maybe if you edited /etc/host.deny If none of that works you could use the preferred method of logging in as regular user and su - to get root privileges.

Hope this helps

Ky

[William Haller]

PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitRootLogin yes

should work. You might try turning off GSS, Kerberos, and PAM to start with as well. We don't use password here - use certificates - but do log in as root so I know that root logins do still work.

[mattmarion]

Hey Kyryder and William Haller, thanks for the quick responses.

/etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitRootLogin yes

Already set that way.

Also odd is that I compared the sshd_config file to one from another distro, centOS 5.2, and it's identical except that in the CentOS file, PermitRootLogin is commented out and root CAN login via ssh. Also, PAM and GSS are used on the CentOS machine. Same goes with some CentOS 4 machines and also the SUSE machine I checked.

---------- Post added at 12:50 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 12:42 PM CST ----------

Ok, problem seems to be bigger than I thought. I can't login using ANY username, let alone root. sshd_config files are the same as other distros so it should work. Username/password combos are correct. SSH is running and port is open or I wouldn't be prompted for my password.

I'm trying to PuTTY in from Windows so to eliminate the PuTTY client I tried ssh'ing from another linux box to no avail, regardless of user...

Also, the Fedora install is running in a VM in Windows XP but I've done this lots before, setup linux in VM's and just ssh into them, and never had problems...

Firewall is off in Windows and linux is still default (which is what I always leave it at).

---------- Post added at 01:23 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 12:50 PM CST ----------

Holy crap I'm dumb.

Someone stole my IP on the same network. I couldn't login because I was logging into the wrong machine. Arse wooping time!!!

Thanks for the help guys, the searching and answers to questions are always great for learning.