ssh-copy-id does not work

Question

I'm trying to set up a passwordless SSH login on CentOS 5.4:

1. I generated RSA public key on the client.
2. ssh-copy-id from client to server.
3. Verified ~/.ssh/authorized_keys contains the client key.

The client still prompted for password. What did I miss?

Thanks.

EDIT: checked ssh_config and permissions as advised. This is the debug info from the client:

debug2: key: /home/saguna/.ssh/identity ((nil))
debug2: key: /home/saguna/.ssh/id_rsa (0x2b31921be9a0)
debug2: key: /home/saguna/.ssh/id_dsa ((nil))
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
debug3: start over, passed a different list publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
debug3: preferred gssapi-with-mic,publickey,keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_lookup gssapi-with-mic
debug3: remaining preferred: publickey,keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled gssapi-with-mic
debug1: Next authentication method: gssapi-with-mic
debug3: Trying to reverse map address 192.168.1.75.
debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
Unknown code krb5 195

debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
Unknown code krb5 195

debug1: Unspecified GSS failure.  Minor code may provide more information
Unknown code krb5 195

debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method
debug3: authmethod_lookup publickey
debug3: remaining preferred: keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: /home/saguna/.ssh/identity
debug3: no such identity: /home/saguna/.ssh/identity
debug1: Offering public key: /home/saguna/.ssh/id_rsa
debug3: send_pubkey_test
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,gssapi-with-mic,password
debug1: Trying private key: /home/saguna/.ssh/id_dsa
debug3: no such identity: /home/saguna/.ssh/id_dsa
debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method
debug3: authmethod_lookup password
debug3: remaining preferred: ,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled password
debug1: Next authentication method: password
saguna@192.168.1.75's password: 

Answer 1

Check in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to allow authentication with a key. You should have something like this in it, and make sure the lines are not commented:

RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
AuthorizedKeysFile  .ssh/authorized_keys

PS: don't forget to restart sshd after you modify the file (/etc/init.d/sshd restart)

Answer 2

The most common problem is invalid permissions on the server side. Check that none of your home directory, ~/.ssh and ~/.ssh/authorized_keys are writable by anyone but you (in particular they must not be group-writable).

If that's not the problem, run ssh -vvv server and look at the client's view of the conversation. In particular, check that the client is trying the key with the server.

Answer 3

9/10 times it's because ~/.ssh/authorized_keys isn't at the right mode.

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Answer 4

The problem was I had RSAAuthentication disbled in /etc/ssh/ssh_config