Cygwin SSH not reading config file

Question

Cygwin's ssh isn't reading my config file at %HOME%/.ssh/config.

I have Cygwin installed, but I prefer to use the DOS-like environment on Windows. I have the Cygwin bin directory in my PATH and I often use the Unix-like commands outside of Cygwin.

Since I'm not logging in to Cygwin (or executing .bashrc), I expected the commands to use the environment variables set by Windows. HOME is set to C:\Users\Vince and I expected ssh to find the config file in C:\Users\Vince\.ssh\config, but that doesn't happen unless I use the -F option to tell it to look there.

How do I tell where Cygwin's ssh is looking for the config file? Can that be changed?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Here is my answer based on the q&a we had in the comments.

By default, Cygwin will create a user home directory in /home/User, on a windows system, out home directory is somewhere else -

To fix this, open /etc/nsswitch.conf and edit in this line

db_home: windows

Close all Cygwin terminal sessions and relaunch. Now again echo $HOME and you should see that it should now be set to the windows %HOME%, and no longer use the one located in /home

edit

You may also need to remove

/etc/passwd
/etc/group

As this should now be deferred to windows.

Answer 2

To verify if Cygwin (cygrunsrv) is installed properly, run C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat, and execute the following command:

cygrunsrv -h

If Cygwin is installed properly, then all the Cygwin help options are displayed on the screen. However, if this command returns an error message, then you may have to reinstall Cygwin.

To configure the SSHD service, run C:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat, and execute the following command:

ssh-host-config

After running the command, you are prompted the following questions:

• Query: Should privilege separation be used? : yes
• Query: New local account 'sshd'? : yes
• Query: Do you want to install sshd as a service?
• Query: : yes
• Query: Enter the value of CYGWIN for the deamon: [] binmode ntsec
• Query: Do you want to use a different name? (yes/no) yes/no

At this point, if you want to use the same name, that is cyg_server, enter no. You are then prompted the following questions:

• Query: Create new privileged user account 'cyg_server'? (yes/no) yes
• Query: Please enter the password:
• Query: Renter:

However, if you want to use a different name, enter yes. You are then prompted the following questions:

• Query: Enter the new user name: cyg_server1
• Query: Reenter: cyg_server1
• Query: Create new privileged user account 'cyg_server1'? (yes/no) yes
• Query: Please enter the password:
• Query: Reenter:

If the configuration is successful, you will see the following message:

Host configuration finished. Have fun!

Answer 3

Part of the problem here is the fractured, overloaded meanings assigned to $HOME. Trying to mash all your user information into a single directory when you are mixing Cygwin and Windows is a bad idea (tm).

You get away with having multiple "systems" as long as they don't conflict. When you try to make them cohabit too closely, you get unresolvable problems. This is why bash, ksh and zsh have their own profiles, they are not 100% compatible.

Having a separate /home/USERNAME directory for CYGWIN is a good idea. When there are things that you know are compatible and should be shared, then you can take steps to make it accessible from both worlds. If you're just starting with Cygwin, you shouldn't try to make it too cozy with Windows.

Windows doesn't normally have a HOME directory, but some software is looking for it. The problem is you really have two homes. Dance carefully.

Answer 4

I had same problem.

At the end I didn't use the openssh package from Cygwin, but I was using ssh command of the Windows. So install Cygwin's openssh package, and that's all.