- In this tutorial, I have added the configurations required for ec2 user password authentication for AWS ec2 Linux instances.
- As by default ec2 instance don't have any password .Follow these simple steps to configure password in your linux instance .
Note:- It is not recommended to configure password in cloud instances unless required .Private key-based authentication is always the safest way to access cloud instances.
Step 1: Log in to the linux machine using ssh client of your choice using the private key.
For Windows machines, you can use putty for connecting to the instance. Click here to know how to use putty on Windows .
If you are using Mac or Linux, you can use the following command to connect to the instance.
ssh -i your-key.pem username@(public-ip-address)
Step 2: Enter the following command to open sshd_config file
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Step 3: Find the line containing “PasswordAuthentication” parameter and change its value from “no” to “yes“
Step 4: Now press ctrl + x button and then click on Y button to save the changes
Step 5: Setup ec2 user password using the “passwd” command along with the username.
You need to enter the password twice. For example, if you want to set up a password for “centos” user, use the following command.
sudo passwd centos
In AWS, different ec2 instances have different usernames. Following are the default usernames of some popular ec2 instances.
| Instance | Username |
| Ubuntu | ubuntu |
| Redhat Linux | ec2-user |
| Amazon Linux | ec2-user |
| CentOS | centos |
| Debian | admin or root |
Step 6: Now, restart the “sshd” service using the following command.
sudo service sshd restart
Step 7: Once the "sshd" service is restarted successfully , you can log out and log in using the password you set for the user. For example,
ssh ubuntu@34.10.100.1
I hope this "How to configure password in Amazon ec2 instance" article helps. Let me know in the comment section if you face any errors.