ssh authentication still prompts for password
Asked by Carl Wainwright:

I'm have setup SourceTree to connect to my Git repo using SSH without password. My public key has been successfully stored on the Git server.

However, I'm repeatedly getting prompted for a password to authenticate the user 'git'. I can see on the Git server that my key exchange is successful.

```
Jun  1 14:16:19 Ptk-Controller sshd[28381]: Accepted publickey for git from 172.28.1.42 port 53452 ssh2: RSA 22:1c:2d:43:1a:30:ba:73:8b:f0:74:c1:12:69:cc:58Jun  1 14:24:23 Ptk-Controller sshd[29046]: Accepted publickey for git from 172.28.1.42 port 53758 ssh2: RSA 22:1c:2d:43:1a:30:ba:73:8b:f0:74:c1:12:69:cc:58Jun  1 14:26:43 Ptk-Controller sshd[29142]: Accepted publickey for git from 172.28.1.42 port 53884 ssh2: RSA 22:1c:2d:43:1a:30:ba:73:8b:f0:74:c1:12:69:cc:58Jun  1 14:32:07 Ptk-Controller sshd[29630]: Accepted publickey for git from 172.28.1.42 port 54018 ssh2: RSA 22:1c:2d:43:1a:30:ba:73:8b:f0:74:c1:12:69:cc:58Jun  1 14:36:03 Ptk-Controller sshd[29853]: Accepted publickey for git from  172.28.1.42 port 54171 ssh2: RSA 22:1c:2d:43:1a:30:ba:73:8b:f0:74:c1:12:69:cc:58
```

My repo is configured as [git@phantom.ipaccess.com](mailto:git@phantom.ipaccess.com):people/cw1/ansible.git (I did read somewhere to include ssh://, but this threw up different issues).

As things are I can successfully push/clone etc using SourceTree.

Any ideas why the password prompt is happening?


Answers:
author: marcin_piela
body: I had a very similar problem on OS X. Remote accessed through SSH (url: git@...). Authentication: private / public key pair. Each fetch or pull caused prompt for password for user "git". When I entered the password to my private key it went on. Problem was SourceTree never respected the "store password in keychain" option and asked for password each time I wanted to do a fetch or pull (pull caused two prompts!).

Today I found a solution to that problem:

```
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa?
```

Unfortunately this command must be issued after each restart and it's interactive because you have to input the password to your private key.


author: h tsch
body: I am having same issue with source tree 2.3.1 running on OS X 10.11.6. I have generated ssh key so I can run command line git (push, clone, branch, pull, etc) with no issues. I have reinstalled sourcetree after using app uninstall to completely remove all the dependency directories. Then I tried renaming the Keychains directory and then reboot so it would not be involved. Best I can do is clone a local repository via command line and then I can add the cloned local repository to source tree and it looks fine. As soon as I try pushing a modification via sourcetree it complains. After moving Keychains directory back again I have searched for sourcetree, bitbucket, Atlasssian or anything related and find nothing. I don't know what else to try. window keeps popping up asking for 'Password Required ... for user xx on host yyy ... with a check box to store password in keychain.

comments: author: cam tullos
body: It's been 2 years since this was last posted, and I get the same problem on Mac.


author: Carl Wainwright
body: I've checked with a colleague who is running sourcetree on a Mac and he does not get this authentication prompt.


author: Carl Wainwright
body: No, just a passphrase and pageant is handling that aspect of things. I can safely connect to the git server using my public key/passphrase with putty.


author: Seth
body: Is your private key password protected?


Tags: authentication

ssh