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Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 15:00:11 -0500
From: "Larry Hall (Cygwin)" <reply-to-list-only-lh AT cygwin DOT com>
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To: Brett Serkez <techie AT serkez DOT net>
CC: Ordinary Olson <olson_ord AT yahoo DOT it>, cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Cygwin SSHD Password different from Windows Password    - Possible?
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Reformatted top-post:

Brett Serkez wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 19:43:14 +0100 (CET), "Ordinary Olson"
> <olson_ord AT yahoo DOT it> said:

<http://cygwin.com/acronyms/#PCYMTNQREAIYR>

>>I have Windows XP set up with just a single account
>>i.e. an Admin account with no admin password. I have
>>installed cygwin in this account. 
>> 
>>            Is it possible that this cygwin sshd
>>server runs with a password i.e. I want to maintain
>>the Windows XP without a password, while the cygwin
>>sshd server should have a password (for anyone trying
>>to connect to it.)
>> 
>>I tried setting the cygwin password, and after that it
>>seemed that my windows account also required the
>>password to log in. 
>>I have tried searching this topic online – but I don’t
>>think I get anything. 
>> 
>>Thank you for taking your time to respond to this. 
>>Regards,
>>O.O. 
 >
> I believe sshd will not allow login without both a password and home
> directory.  The second requirement means you must start a login shell as
> a given user to create their home directory.  This is a way of
> controlling which accounts can login remotely.
> 
> Cygwin/Windows doesn't directly support su as UNIXies do.  Normally you
> wouldn't allow direct remote login as an administrator/root, you'd force
> login as an ordinary user and then su.  In this case, you don't have
> that option, atleast not easily, perhaps use of a dedicated remote
> account with a password would be appropriate, otherwise just use the
> password on the administrator account for both.
> 
> I'm not sure if this would work with Cygwin's sshd, but I believe you
> can disable password login and use public/private keys to authenticate. 
> If their is no password, I am not sure if sshd will allow login based on
> key authentication.


Cygwin's sshd does not require a password by default.  I run it without
one all the time.  If you want to log in using password authentication
but keep your password empty, you need to change "PermitEmptyPasswords"
to "Yes" in your sshd_config file.  Regardless of this setting or what
your password is, you may use public key authentication.

On NT platforms and up, cygwin's sshd defers to Windows for password
authentication. Given that, one wouldn't be able to have a password for a
user in Cygwin's world but not in Windows or vice versa.


-- 
Larry Hall                              http://www.rfk.com
RFK Partners, Inc.                      (508) 893-9779 - RFK Office
838 Washington Street                   (508) 893-9889 - FAX
Holliston, MA 01746


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