Howto login to OpenElec using SSH without a password.

Hi There!

For quite some time I'm using OpenElec running on a Raspberry Pi Model B version 2. It runs fine, uite fast on Model 2, but just sometimes I like to fiddle around in my RPi/OpenElec instance.

These are the steps needed to prepare for password-less login (that is: without entering a password) on OpenElec using Putty, A Free Telnet/SSH Client:

Prerequisites:

• A Windows computer (client), duh!
• A downloaded (and installed) version of putty.zip, containing putty.exe, puttygen.exe and pscp.exe (watch a install on Youtube)
• A running (OpenSSH)-server, like OpenElec ansd its core OS, debian, offers, and which IP address you can retrieve. 

Step 1 - Create a private/public key pair

1. start PuttyGen
2. click Generate (to Generate a public/private key pair)
   (you have to move your mouse around quite some time for the required randomness)
   BTW: generate a SSH-2 key
3. Now, save the generated keys in a safe place, at least the Private one
• a Public key can (always) be regenerated through the Private key (and the passphrase, if used, which is highly recommended)
• I name the files PrivateKey.pkk and PublicKey.pub respectively

Now, it is very important to keep in mind:

• the PrivateKey.pkk is yours (and yours only), and is the most key 
• the only key that really is allowed 'escaping' your system is the PublicKey.pub

Step 2 - Copy the public key to OpenElec

(I'd normally use the WinSCP program, just because it's so easy to use.
But to make this a somewhat nice tutorial on the subject of Putty, let's use Putty's Secure Copy program, PSCP)

To copy the public key to OpenElec using PSCP, you need to know

• directory of the PSCP.EXE program that comes with Putty
• - directory and filename
• - IP address of the OE instance (mine is 192.168.1.18)
• - username and  password (standard OpenElec has root as SSH-user and password openelec)

 PSCP.EXE<Directory where you put those keys>\PublicKey.pub root@<IP of OpenElec>:\.ssh

In my config/setting this means:

PSCP.EXE H:\Keys\PublicKey.pub root@192.168.x.xx:/storage/.ssh/PublicKey.pub

root@192.168.x.xx's password: [hidden] 

PublicKey.pub             | 0 kB |   0.5 kB/s | ETA: 00:00:00 | 100%

Tata! Successfully transfered!