Permission Denied

"Permission Denied"

SSH connected to your server, but the login was rejected.

Permission denied, please try again.

or

Permission denied (publickey).

Common Causes

Wrong Password

Passwords are case-sensitive. One wrong character and it fails.

Fix:

• Copy the password from your provisioning email. Don't type it manually
• Make sure there are no extra spaces before or after
• Remember: nothing appears on screen while typing a password

Wrong Username

QDE VPS defaults to root. If you're using something else, it won't work.

Fix: Make sure your command looks like:

ssh root@192.0.2.1

Not ssh admin@... or ssh user@....

Wrong SSH Key

If you see Permission denied (publickey), the server expects a key you're not sending.

Fix:

• Check that your public key is added to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server
• Specify the correct key file:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/my_key root@192.0.2.1

• If you don't use SSH keys, force password login:

ssh -o PasswordAuthentication=yes root@192.0.2.1

Root Login Disabled

Some OS templates disable root login by default.

Fix: Use the control panel console to check:

grep PermitRootLogin /etc/ssh/sshd_config

If it says no, change it to yes and restart SSH:

sed -i 's/PermitRootLogin no/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
systemctl restart sshd

Quick Checklist

1. Username is root
2. Password is copied exactly (no extra spaces)
3. If using a key, the right key file is specified
4. Root login is enabled in SSH config
5. If all else fails, use the control panel console to reset your password or check the config