Getting connection reset when trying to ssh localhost

Question

I installed openssh using below command

apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client

I'm trying to create ssh connection to localhost.

ssh user@localhost

I'm getting below error

Connection reset by 127.0.0.1 port 22

How to resolve this error?

Solution

Try regenerating the host keys:

sudo rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_* && sudo dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server

You can get more debug information from ssh with the -v option, as well as looking in the ssh server log, for debian/ubuntu, this is /var/log/auth.log

Comments

[HowlingFantods]

I have seen this suggestion elsewhere, but am confused, is this command supposed to be run on the host machine or client? Am I just out of luck if ssh is my only means of accessing the host?

[Andrew Domaszek]

It needs to be done on the host server. You'll need some other way to get remote access if ssh is currently inoperable. kvm-over-ip, ipmi console, or rescue boot disk all come to mind.

[Rakete1111]

You can also use ssh-keygen -A -f / to regenerate the host keys.