Hi, Can anyone give me a clue? I have two identical Slackware 7.1 systems and have installed openssh-3.2.3p1 on both systems.... Once system is fine... everything is working without problem.... the other system everything works only when you are logged in as root... Here's what you get when logged in as a normal user: dpsims at linux:~$ ssh -vvv localhost OpenSSH_3.2.3p1, SSH protocols 1.5/2.0, OpenSSL 0x0090602f debug1: Reading configuration data /usr/local/etc/ssh_config debug1: Rhosts Authentication disabled, originating port will not be trusted. debug1: restore_uid debug1: ssh_connect: getuid 500 geteuid 0 anon 1 debug1: Connecting to localhost [127.0.0.1] port 22. debug1: temporarily_use_uid: 500/100 (e=0) debug1: restore_uid debug1: temporarily_use_uid: 500/100 (e=0) debug1: restore_uid debug1: Connection established. debug1: read PEM private key done: type DSA debug1: read PEM private key done: type RSA debug1: identity file /home/dpsims/.ssh/identity type -1 debug1: identity file /home/dpsims/.ssh/id_rsa type -1 debug1: identity file /home/dpsims/.ssh/id_dsa type -1 debug1: Remote protocol version 1.99, remote software version OpenSSH_3.2.3p1 debug1: match: OpenSSH_3.2.3p1 pat OpenSSH* Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0 debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_3.2.3p1 debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-gro up1-sha1 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour, aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,rijndael-cbc at lysator.liu.se debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour, aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,rijndael-cbc at lysator.liu.se debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160 at open ssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160 at open ssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: none debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: none debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: first_kex_follows 0 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: reserved 0 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha1,diffie-hellman-gro up1-sha1 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour, aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,rijndael-cbc at lysator.liu.se debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,blowfish-cbc,cast128-cbc,arcfour, aes192-cbc,aes256-cbc,rijndael-cbc at lysator.liu.se debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160 at open ssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,hmac-ripemd160,hmac-ripemd160 at open ssh.com,hmac-sha1-96,hmac-md5-96 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: none,zlib debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: none,zlib debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: first_kex_follows 0 debug2: kex_parse_kexinit: reserved 0 debug2: mac_init: found hmac-md5 debug1: kex: server->client aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none debug2: mac_init: found hmac-md5 debug1: kex: client->server aes128-cbc hmac-md5 none debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP debug1: dh_gen_key: priv key bits set: 138/256 debug1: bits set: 1559/3191 debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY debug3: check_host_in_hostfile: filename /home/dpsims/.ssh/known_hosts debug3: check_host_in_hostfile: filename /usr/local/etc/ssh_known_hosts Host key verification failed. debug1: Calling cleanup 0x8061854(0x0) Here's an ls -al of the .ssh directory in the user directory: dpsims at linux:~/.ssh$ ls -al total 8 drwx------ 2 dpsims users 4096 Jun 24 16:07 ./ drwx--x--x 5 dpsims users 4096 Jun 24 16:12 ../ dpsims at linux:~/.ssh$ I see that there is no known_hosts file in this subdirectory, but why doesn't ssh create one?? I'm stumped. Any clues would be very welcome. Regards, Dave Sims dpsims at virtualdave.com