TechNote

"Login or password is incorrect" error when connecting to remote server via SFTP

Issue

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 fails to connect to an SFTP (Secure FTP) server with the following error:

An FTP error occurred - cannot make connection to host. Your login or password is incorrect. Please check your connection information.

Reason

Dreamweaver MX 2004 only supports password-based authentication for SFTP connections. This connection error occurs if the PasswordAuthentication option of the SFTP server is disabled.

Solution

Enabling the PasswordAuthentication option in the "sshd_config" file of the server resolves this issue.

The sshd_config file is the system-wide configuration file for OpenSSH that contains settings affecting the operation of the daemon. The sshd_config file contains option-value pairs, one per line, with option names being case insensitive. Follow the steps below to enable password authentication for the SFTP server:

Open the sshd_config file in a text editor. The sshd_config file is usually located at: /etc/ssh/sshd_config.
Note: Make sure to edit "sshd_config" andnot"ssh_config".
Look for the PasswordAuthentication option and set the value to yes.
Restart the SSHD (SSH Daemon) after making the changes in the sshd_config file. The restart file can be found at: /etc/init.d/sshd restart.

Note: The steps above should work for most Unix/Linux-based systems but it is best to consult your server administrator or the specific documentation for your server on how to modify the settings of the SSH daemon.

Additional information

For more details on SSHD and the sshd_config file, please refer to the following third party web pages: UNIX SSHD Manual page and sshd_config Manual page.

Third party links
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