Vultr SSH Permission Denied
Quick answer
Permission denied (publickey/password) means the server answered but rejected your login. Check the username, key, and password settings, or reset via the console.
Most likely fix: Verify user and key
How to fix it
Try these in order — the most common fix is first.
1. Verify user and key
- Use the default user shown in the instance page (often root)
- Try ssh -i ~/.ssh/key user@IP -v to see which key is offered
Did this fix it?2. Fix from the console
- Open View Console and log in with the root password shown in the Console
- Add your public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
- chmod 700 ~/.ssh and chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Did this fix it?
Symptoms
ssh returns 'Permission denied (publickey)' or password is rejected.
Why it happens
- Wrong username (root vs ubuntu)
- SSH key not attached to the instance or wrong key offered
- Password login disabled in sshd_config
- Bad file permissions on ~/.ssh
This guide also covers
- vultr ssh permission denied
- vultr permission denied publickey
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