
In other words, if the user has no proper privileges to read the SSH keys, then SSH refuses to authenticate.

SSH server login requires strict permissions for the key files used. Now, let’s see the main reasons for this error and how our Dedicated Engineers fix them. Server refused our key on Vultr instance – Causes & Fixes Then, we check the SSH logs( /var/log/secure and /var/log/auth.log) to find the origin of the issue. Further, we change the log level to debug mode in the SSH configuration file /etc/sshd/ssh_config. It will give a detailed trace that will help us to analyze the problem. Here, our Support Engineers recreate the problem by connecting to the server via SSH in debug mode. The error “ Server refused our key” on Vultr instance clearly shows that the server rejected the SSH key submitted for login. Here, the public key is placed on the Vultr instance while the private key is placed on the user’s computer. Key based authentication is a secure way to access the server.

‘Server refused our key’ on Vultr instance – What this means? Today, we’ll discuss the top 3 reasons for this error and how our Dedicated Engineers fix them. And, this error can occur due to wrong format of SSH keys, wrong permissions of SSH key, and more. Server owners often face this error when accessing the server using SSH keys. That was a recent support received from one of the customers as part of the Managed Cloud Services that we provide. This seems to be a blocker from MS Azure.I have created a key pair using PuTTy, but when I try connecting to my Vultr instance, I get the error ” server refused our key”. I think there are some constraints or restrictions coming in after I download a file of that big a size. Ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCY圜1ZIr6OMNz0alV4Y10KftDIYcSy9yppbvI75pIze5xANUYMSYvANLHhUkiMVKVlpt5O907YcZFmWkzVtrUsUTUO1eF+BHjgpQCarU9DIso2aJ/t0L4JJDAv7McbaJFOja+CqzuECoFPc1UvGJovJcCQ5LtSVSQfgWdXI3UxoO0X8W/kOjBMRJ024iZsXnnSP9PRw2ADTVEvTfEznTBJNnn7TpuIQiXhCR+iXJW958eiQbFzCATDUXv1YRIe/PpBeFauRF+BAlTPGwgZjPT5DczP02jX7YLTA2BRpqG7/oLsqivmSd4UTtbaFM1z4zQgEQk3HsG3zOYpjqpJdq0R I also noted the contents of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys before and after the issue is ~]$ cat ~/.ssh/authorized_keys


The ssh fails with error: "Server refused our key".
