Starting SSH client in Debian Linux on a Lenovo Chromebook

Question

I just want to start an 'active' SSH client but after the following code I get an error:

sudo service ssh start
sudo systemctl status ssh

● ssh.service - OpenBSD Secure Shell server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ssh.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: inactive (dead)
Condition: start condition failed at Tue 2020-10-06 20:56:14 PDT; 8min ago
           └─ ConditionPathExists=!/etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run was not met
     Docs: man:sshd(8)
           man:sshd_config(5)

Oct 06 20:40:48 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:43:16 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:44:14 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:47:30 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:49:37 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:56:07 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
Oct 06 20:56:14 penguin systemd[1]: Condition check resulted in OpenBSD Secure Shell server being skipped
lines 1-15/15 (END)

Any suggestions?

You need to remove /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run first before you can start SSHD — RoseHosting, Oct 07 '20 at 05:09
i tried: rm /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run rm: remove write-protected regular empty file '/etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run'? y rm: cannot remove '/etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run': Permission denied — Carlos Rivas, Oct 07 '20 at 05:26

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 07 '20 at 13:28

As the output indicated:

ConditionPathExists=!/etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run was not met

This means that systemd will not start the service if this file exists.

You need to delete this file before the service will start.

sudo rm -f /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run

Starting SSH client in Debian Linux on a Lenovo Chromebook

1 Answers1