Common issues

Identify console errors in Ubuntu

An error occurred while checking service status: Permission denied (password).
Credentials are wrong. Please check your ip, username and password and try again.
An error occurred while checking service status: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it
Restart your SSH server using sudo service ssh restart
An error occurred: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it
Restart your SSH server using sudo service ssh restart
An error occurred while checking service status: Client not connected.
This error indicates that the SSH client is not connected to the server. To resolve this issue:
  • Ensure your SSH client is properly connected. Reconnect if necessary.
  • Verify network connectivity to the server and ensure the SSH service is running on the server.
  • To check SSH connectivity, use the following command in your terminal:
    • ssh username@server_ip
An error occurred: No suitable authentication method found to complete authentication (publickey).
This error occurs when the SSH client cannot authenticate using the public key. Follow these steps:
  • Ensure your public key is added to the server's `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` file.
  • Verify that your SSH client is configured to use the correct private key.
  • Check the permissions of the `.ssh` directory and the `authorized_keys` file. They should be set to: 
    • chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Command error: sudo: a terminal is required to read the password; either use the -S option to read from standard input or configure an askpass helper
This error occurs when `sudo` requires a password but cannot read it because a terminal is not available. To fix this:
  • Edit the sudoers file to allow passwordless sudo for your user. Run the following command:
    • sudo visudo
  • Add the following line at the end of the file, replacing `username` with your actual username:
    • username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
  • Save and exit the editor.
Command failed with exit status 1
This error indicates that a command executed returned an exit status of 1, which usually means a failure. To address this:
  • Verify the command syntax and ensure all required parameters are provided.
  • Check the command output and error messages for additional details about the failure.
  • Ensure that the user running the command has the necessary permissions.
  • If running system services, check the service status with:
    • systemctl status service_name
  • Review the service logs for more information.