Can't ssh to AWS EC2: Identity file not accessible

Question

I\'m unable to ssh to my EC2 server and am getting the error:

ssh -i /Users/Skeniver/Keepass/skeniver.pem ubuntu@xx.xxx.xx.xxx

Identity file /Users/Skeniver/Kee         


        

Answer 1

I had similar issue and found that there was hidden char in command, pasting to plain text editor and copy back helped me.

Answer 2

This is weird, but in my case I was copying the command from a slack message and that repeatedly caused this error, even though I met all the above requirements. Typing the whole command without copying anything from clipboard worked for me. Posting this here and I hope this helps someone one day.

Answer 3

I was having this same issue. Storing the identity file in my ~/.ssh directory and running cd ~/.ssh before ssh -i (identity_file) username@hostname worked. I only ran into the issue when trying to run the ssh command from outside the ~/.ssh directory. Hopefully that helps

Answer 4

I got here while solving same or similar problem. After trying a few things this works for me eventually. I am on MacBook Pro and trying to connect to Ec2 Amazon Linux 2 using VSCode Remote SSH.

I have to update this file

/Users/MrRobot/.ssh/config

There is a config in the file like below.

IdentityFile xx.pem

I have to update this to full path wherever your id_rsa or pem file is.

IdentityFile /Users/MrRobot/.ssh/xx.pem

Answer 5

There are multiple reasons to occurring this error. 1 you are trying to access from whatever path which is not match 2 either you do not have permission to do access 3 if you do not have access to that particular file you can try to change the mode of permission

like the above solution

sudo chmod 400 /Users/Skeniver/Keepass/skeniver.pem

even if not then you can co-ordinate with the network or your cloud team whoever manage your cloud server

Answer 6

You need the identity file to login to the box. Use the command:

ssh -i (identity_file) username@hostname"

This worked for me. Write just the filename (without any slashes), unlike Amazon EC2 tutorial which asks you to enter:

ssh -i /path/key_pair.pem ec2-user@public_dns_name

It worked for me after putting the identity file in the .ssh (hidden) folder on home. To view hidden folders on home, use ctrl+h