I encountered the most aggravating issue today. My zeal for security combined with my lack of understanding was my downfall.

Recently I bootstrapped a server with a fresh Ubuntu installation. When asked if I wanted to encrypt my home directory, I didn’t hesitate for a second. No baddie was pulling my files off my disk, no hell no.

When ungodly winds struck LA last weekend, the power went out. Nine times out of ten, any wind over 15mph and LA’s grid is struggling.

So I turn this machine on again, and go to SSH in. It prompts me for my password.

Strange, I absolutely had my public key installed on the server.

I ran ssh-copy-id again for good measure.

Same problem.

I scoured Google with vague terms “SSH public key still prompts for password send help”

And then it worked! I ran ssh and it logged me in smoothly, no-hassle, as God intended.

Did I fix it? Take Note: When something works without any change to the system, no you did not fix it. I’m looking my fellow programmers dead in the eyes right now.

I carried on, logged out and tried again. Once again prompted for the password.

OH I logged out of all my sessions! I could only SSH with public key authentication when I was already logged in with a separate session.

What the devil is this bullshit … ecryptfs … my home directory was only decrypted and mounted when I had an active login session.

Where do SSH keys live by default? /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys.