Linux – putty 0.61: why do I see “Access Denied” message after I enter the login id

linuxputtySecurityssh

I use putty to login to my RHEL 5.3 server. I'm prompted to enter my login as "login as" and I enter my login Id. As soon as I press Enter, I see a "Access Denied" message following which I'm prompted with password. I successfully enter password and I'm through — no problems.

I tried the same with putty 0.60 (as opposed to above putty 0.61), but in this version, I don't get any "access denied" error. What should I make of this? Is putty 0.61 version buggy?

P.S.: If I login using ssh.exe (from cygwin), then I'm fine — I don't get any "access denied" errors.

Best Answer

PuTTY tries several authentication methods in a row, which might cause these messages:

  • GSSAPI (only if your system and the server have it enabled)
  • Public key (only if you have a key loaded)
  • Password

After receiving the "Access denied" message, hold Ctrl and right-click on the PuTTY window, then select Event log. At the bottom you will see what exactly caused the failure.

Update: PuTTY 0.62 fixed the bug where failing GSSAPI authentication caused this error message.

Related Question