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1 | \define{versioniderrors} \versionid $Id$ |
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2 | |
3 | \C{errors} Common error messages |
4 | |
5 | This chapter lists a number of common error messages which PuTTY and |
6 | its associated tools can produce, and explains what they mean in |
7 | more detail. |
8 | |
9 | We do not attempt to list \e{all} error messages here: there are |
10 | many which should never occur, and some which should be |
11 | self-explanatory. If you get an error message which is not listed in |
12 | this chapter and which you don't understand, report it to us as a |
13 | bug (see \k{feedback}) and we will add documentation for it. |
14 | |
15 | \H{errors-hostkey-absent} \q{The server's host key is not cached in |
16 | the registry} |
17 | |
18 | This error message occurs when PuTTY connects to a new SSH server. |
19 | Every server identifies itself by means of a host key; once PuTTY |
20 | knows the host key for a server, it will be able to detect if a |
21 | malicious attacker redirects your connection to another machine. |
22 | |
23 | If you see this message, it means that PuTTY has not seen this host |
24 | key before, and has no way of knowing whether it is correct or not. |
25 | You should attempt to verify the host key by other means, such as |
26 | asking the machine's administrator. |
27 | |
28 | If you see this message and you know that your installation of PuTTY |
29 | \e{has} connected to the same server before, it may have been |
30 | recently upgraded to SSH protocol version 2. SSH protocols 1 and 2 |
31 | use separate host keys, so when you first use SSH 2 with a server |
32 | you have only used SSH 1 with before, you will see this message |
33 | again. You should verify the correctness of the key as before. |
34 | |
35 | See \k{gs-hostkey} for more information on host keys. |
36 | |
37 | \H{errors-hostkey-wrong} \q{WARNING - POTENTIAL SECURITY BREACH!} |
38 | |
39 | This message, followed by \q{The server's host key does not match |
40 | the one PuTTY has cached in the registry}, means that PuTTY has |
41 | connected to the SSH server before, knows what its host key |
42 | \e{should} be, but has found a different one. |
43 | |
44 | This may mean that a malicious attacker has replaced your server |
45 | with a different one, or has redirected your network connection to |
46 | their own machine. On the other hand, it may simply mean that the |
47 | administrator of your server has accidentally changed the key while |
48 | upgrading the SSH software; this \e{shouldn't} happen but it is |
49 | unfortunately possible. |
50 | |
51 | You should contact your server's administrator and see whether they |
52 | expect the host key to have changed. If so, verify the new host key |
53 | in the same way as you would if it was new. |
54 | |
55 | See \k{gs-hostkey} for more information on host keys. |
56 | |
57 | \H{errors-portfwd-space} \q{Out of space for port forwardings} |
58 | |
59 | PuTTY has a fixed-size buffer which it uses to store the details of |
60 | all port forwardings you have set up in an SSH session. If you |
61 | specify too many port forwardings on the PuTTY or Plink command line |
62 | and this buffer becomes full, you will see this error message. |
63 | |
64 | We need to fix this (fixed-size buffers are almost always a mistake) |
65 | but we haven't got round to it. If you actually have trouble with |
66 | this, let us know and we'll move it up our priority list. |
67 | |
68 | \H{errors-cipher-warning} \q{The first cipher supported by the server is |
69 | ... below the configured warning threshold} |
70 | |
71 | This occurs when the SSH server does not offer any ciphers which you |
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72 | have configured PuTTY to consider strong enough. By default, PuTTY |
73 | puts up this warning only for single-DES encryption. |
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74 | |
75 | See \k{config-ssh-encryption} for more information on this message. |
76 | |
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77 | \H{errors-toomanyauth} \q{Server sent disconnect message type 2 |
78 | (SSH_DISCONNECT_PROTOCOL_ERROR): "Too many authentication failures for root"} |
79 | |
80 | This message is produced by an OpenSSH (or Sun SSH) server if it |
81 | receives more failed authentication attempts than it is willing to |
82 | tolerate. This can easily happen if you are using Pageant and have a |
83 | large number of keys loaded into it. This can be worked around on the |
84 | server by disabling public-key authentication or (for Sun SSH only) by |
85 | increasing \c{MaxAuthTries} in \c{sshd_config}. Neither of these is a |
86 | really satisfactory solution, and we hope to provide a better one in a |
87 | future version of PuTTY. |
88 | |
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89 | \H{errors-memory} \q{Out of memory} |
90 | |
91 | This occurs when PuTTY tries to allocate more memory than the system |
92 | can give it. This \e{may} happen for genuine reasons: if the |
93 | computer really has run out of memory, or if you have configured an |
94 | extremely large number of lines of scrollback in your terminal. |
95 | PuTTY is not able to recover from running out of memory; it will |
96 | terminate immediately after giving this error. |
97 | |
98 | However, this error can also occur when memory is not running out at |
99 | all, because PuTTY receives data in the wrong format. In SSH 2 and |
100 | also in SFTP, the server sends the length of each message before the |
101 | message itself; so PuTTY will receive the length, try to allocate |
102 | space for the message, and then receive the rest of the message. If |
103 | the length PuTTY receives is garbage, it will try to allocate a |
104 | ridiculous amount of memory, and will terminate with an \q{Out of |
105 | memory} error. |
106 | |
107 | This can happen in SSH 2, if PuTTY and the server have not enabled |
108 | encryption in the same way (see \k{faq-outofmem} in the FAQ). Some |
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109 | versions of OpenSSH have a known problem with this: see |
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110 | \k{faq-openssh-bad-openssl}. |
111 | |
112 | This can also happen in PSCP or PSFTP, if your login scripts on the |
113 | server generate output: the client program will be expecting an SFTP |
114 | message starting with a length, and if it receives some text from |
115 | your login scripts instead it will try to interpret them as a |
116 | message length. See \k{faq-outofmem2} for details of this. |
117 | |
118 | \H{errors-internal} \q{Internal error}, \q{Internal fault}, |
119 | \q{Assertion failed} |
120 | |
121 | Any error beginning with the word \q{Internal} should \e{never} |
122 | occur. If it does, there is a bug in PuTTY by definition; please see |
123 | \k{feedback} and report it to us. |
124 | |
125 | Similarly, any error message starting with \q{Assertion failed} is a |
126 | bug in PuTTY. Please report it to us, and include the exact text |
127 | from the error message box. |
128 | |
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129 | \H{errors-key-wrong-format} \q{Unable to use this private key file}, |
130 | \q{Couldn't load private key}, \q{Key is of wrong type} |
131 | |
132 | Various forms of this error are printed in the PuTTY window, or |
133 | written to the PuTTY Event Log (see \k{using-eventlog}) when trying |
134 | public-key authentication, or given by Pageant when trying to load a |
135 | private key. |
136 | |
137 | If you see one of these messages, it often indicates that you've tried |
138 | to load a key of an inappropriate type into PuTTY, Plink, PSCP, PSFTP, |
139 | or Pageant. |
140 | |
141 | You may have specified a key that's inappropriate for the connection |
142 | you're making. The SSH-1 and SSH-2 protocols require different private |
143 | key formats, and a SSH-1 key can't be used for a SSH-2 connection (or |
144 | vice versa). |
145 | |
146 | Alternatively, you may have tried to load an SSH-2 key in a \q{foreign} |
147 | format (OpenSSH or \cw{ssh.com}) directly into one of the PuTTY tools, |
148 | in which case you need to import it into PuTTY's native format |
149 | (\c{*.PPK}) using PuTTYgen - see \k{puttygen-conversions}. |
150 | |
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151 | \H{errors-refused} \q{Server refused our public key} or \q{Key |
152 | refused} |
153 | |
154 | Various forms of this error are printed in the PuTTY window, or |
155 | written to the PuTTY Event Log (see \k{using-eventlog}) when trying |
156 | public-key authentication. |
157 | |
158 | If you see one of these messages, it means that PuTTY has sent a |
159 | public key to the server and offered to authenticate with it, and |
160 | the server has refused to accept authentication. This usually means |
161 | that the server is not configured to accept this key to authenticate |
162 | this user. |
163 | |
164 | This is almost certainly not a problem with PuTTY. If you see this |
165 | type of message, the first thing you should do is check your |
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166 | \e{server} configuration carefully. Common errors include having |
167 | the wrong permissions or ownership set on the public key or the |
168 | user's home directory on the server. Also, read the PuTTY Event Log; |
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169 | the server may have sent diagnostic messages explaining exactly what |
170 | problem it had with your setup. |
171 | |
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172 | \H{errors-access-denied} \q{Access denied}, \q{Authentication refused} |
173 | |
174 | Various forms of this error are printed in the PuTTY window, or |
175 | written to the PuTTY Event Log (see \k{using-eventlog}) during |
176 | authentication. |
177 | |
178 | If you see one of these messages, it means that the server has refused |
179 | all the forms of authentication PuTTY has tried and it has no further |
180 | ideas. |
181 | |
182 | It may be worth checking the Event Log for diagnostic messages from |
183 | the server giving more detail. |
184 | |
185 | This error can be caused by buggy SSH-1 servers that fail to cope with |
186 | the various strategies we use for camouflaging passwords in transit. |
187 | Upgrade your server, or use the workarounds described in |
188 | \k{config-ssh-bug-ignore1} and possibly \k{config-ssh-bug-plainpw1}. |
189 | |
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190 | \H{errors-crc} \q{Incorrect CRC received on packet} or \q{Incorrect |
191 | MAC received on packet} |
192 | |
193 | This error occurs when PuTTY decrypts an SSH packet and its checksum |
194 | is not correct. This probably means something has gone wrong in the |
195 | encryption or decryption process. It's difficult to tell from this |
196 | error message whether the problem is in the client or in the server. |
197 | |
198 | A known server problem which can cause this error is described in |
199 | \k{faq-openssh-bad-openssl} in the FAQ. |
200 | |
201 | \H{errors-garbled} \q{Incoming packet was garbled on decryption} |
202 | |
203 | This error occurs when PuTTY decrypts an SSH packet and the |
204 | decrypted data makes no sense. This probably means something has |
205 | gone wrong in the encryption or decryption process. It's difficult |
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206 | to tell from this error message whether the problem is in the client, |
207 | in the server, or in between. |
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208 | |
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209 | If you get this error, one thing you could try would be to fiddle |
210 | with the setting of \q{Miscomputes SSH2 encryption keys} on the Bugs |
211 | panel (see \k{config-ssh-bug-derivekey2}). |
212 | |
213 | Another known server problem which can cause this error is described |
214 | in \k{faq-openssh-bad-openssl} in the FAQ. |
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215 | |
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216 | \H{errors-x11-proxy} \q{PuTTY X11 proxy: \e{various errors}} |
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217 | |
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218 | This family of errors are reported when PuTTY is doing X forwarding. |
219 | They are sent back to the X application running on the SSH server, |
220 | which will usually report the error to the user. |
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221 | |
222 | When PuTTY enables X forwarding (see \k{using-x-forwarding}) it |
223 | creates a virtual X display running on the SSH server. This display |
224 | requires authentication to connect to it (this is how PuTTY prevents |
225 | other users on your server machine from connecting through the PuTTY |
226 | proxy to your real X display). PuTTY also sends the server the |
227 | details it needs to enable clients to connect, and the server should |
228 | put this mechanism in place automatically, so your X applications |
229 | should just work. |
230 | |
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231 | A common reason why people see one of these messages is because they |
232 | used SSH to log in as one user (let's say \q{fred}), and then used |
233 | the Unix \c{su} command to become another user (typically \q{root}). |
234 | The original user, \q{fred}, has access to the X authentication data |
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235 | provided by the SSH server, and can run X applications which are |
236 | forwarded over the SSH connection. However, the second user |
237 | (\q{root}) does not automatically have the authentication data |
238 | passed on to it, so attempting to run an X application as that user |
239 | often fails with this error. |
240 | |
241 | If this happens, \e{it is not a problem with PuTTY}. You need to |
242 | arrange for your X authentication data to be passed from the user |
243 | you logged in as to the user you used \c{su} to become. How you do |
244 | this depends on your particular system; in fact many modern versions |
245 | of \c{su} do it automatically. |
246 | |
247 | \H{errors-connaborted} \q{Network error: Software caused connection |
248 | abort} |
249 | |
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250 | This is a generic error produced by the Windows network code when it |
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251 | kills an established connection for some reason. For example, it might |
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252 | happen if you pull the network cable out of the back of an |
253 | Ethernet-connected computer, or if Windows has any other similar |
254 | reason to believe the entire network has become unreachable. |
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255 | |
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256 | We are not aware of any reason why this error might occur that would |
257 | represent a bug in PuTTY. The problem is between you, your Windows |
258 | system, your network and the remote system. |
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259 | |
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260 | Some people have reported that enabling keepalives (see |
261 | \k{config-keepalive}) fixes this error for them. |
262 | |
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263 | \H{errors-connreset} \q{Network error: Connection reset by peer} |
264 | |
265 | This error occurs when the machines at each end of a network |
266 | connection lose track of the state of the connection between them. |
267 | For example, you might see it if your SSH server crashes, and |
268 | manages to reboot fully before you next attempt to send data to it. |
269 | |
270 | However, the most common reason to see this message is if you are |
271 | connecting through a firewall or a NAT router which has timed the |
272 | connection out. See \k{faq-idleout} in the FAQ for more details. You |
273 | may be able to improve the situation by using keepalives; see |
274 | \k{config-keepalive} for details on this. |
275 | |
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276 | Note that Windows can produce this error in some circumstances without |
277 | seeing a connection reset from the server, for instance if the |
278 | connection to the network is lost. |
279 | |
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280 | \H{errors-connrefused} \q{Network error: Connection refused} |
281 | |
282 | This error means that the network connection PuTTY tried to make to |
283 | your server was rejected by the server. Usually this happens because |
284 | the server does not provide the service which PuTTY is trying to |
285 | access. |
286 | |
287 | Check that you are connecting with the correct protocol (SSH, Telnet |
288 | or Rlogin), and check that the port number is correct. If that |
289 | fails, consult the administrator of your server. |
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290 | |
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291 | \H{errors-conntimedout} \q{Network error: Connection timed out} |
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292 | |
293 | This error means that the network connection PuTTY tried to make to |
294 | your server received no response at all from the server. Usually |
295 | this happens because the server machine is completely isolated from |
296 | the network, or because it is turned off. |
297 | |
298 | Check that you have correctly entered the host name or IP address of |
299 | your server machine. If that fails, consult the administrator of |
300 | your server. |