I want to SSH into an AppVM from the external network. I’ve got the routing working (the ssh client on the client device is connecting successfully to the ssh server on the AppVM), however I can’t log in. It asks for a password. Of course I plan to switch to key-only authentication, but before I can configure it, I need to log in once using a password.
Does anyone know what the default password is? The AppVM uses the debian-12-xfce template. I’ve tried changeme as the password, but it doesn’t work.
Likewise, passwd command asks for the current password; so I’m unable to set a new one.
Update: I think I was able to change the password, by running sudo passwd. Then it doesn’t ask for the current password, it asks for the new one right away.
However, even after changing the password to a known one, I can’t log in via ssh. In the AppVM, I’m running ssh user@localhost and inputting the password I set using sudo passwd. It fails with Permission denied and asks for the password again.
Is there something in how Qubes templates are configured, which prevents what I’m trying to do?
After changing the password with sudo passwd, is passwd working without root?
The /etc/shadow (or whatever file is required) will be lost each time you reboot your server AppVM qube if you don’t configure bind dirs:
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I’m not sure what you mean. passwd works without root, except when you run it with sudo, it no longer asks for the previous password.
I haven’t used it for a long time, sorry. When using passwd as a user, you dont have to enter the old one before entering a new one? I’m looking for a way to check your password…
As far as I can tell by looking at /etc/shadow, by default there is no password for the user account. You would be wise to use SSH key authentication instead of passwords, and I can confirm this works very easily with AppVMs, as authorised keys get saved in the VM’s private storage.