AWS EC2: Steps to enable root access with your local key - Inspired by: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=86876

aws_ec2_root.md

Note: replace {{server}} with your domain or ip

• Login as the ec2-user

ssh -i key.pem ec2-user@{{server}}

• Switch to administrator

sudo -i

• Load the configuration file

sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

• Make sure these are enabled:

	PermitRootLogin yes
	# Only allow root to run commands over ssh, no shell
	#PermitRootLogin forced-commands-only
	RSAAuthentication yes
	PubkeyAuthentication yes
	AuthorizedKeysFile     .ssh/authorized_keys

• copy your local public key to the authorized list

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh root@{{server}} 'cat - >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys'

• Make sure the files have the right permisions

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 700 ~/.ssh/

• Restart the service

sudo service sshd reload

• Exit and try to login again

exit
ssh root@{{server}}

This is awesome. Thank you! (Worked for my Ubuntu instance as well, btw.)

replace sshd with ssh

At this line, copy your local public key to the authorized list, on which machine should I execute this command?

Hi! this is tutorial version 2016:
How to login Root SSH Linux Server Amazon VPS (Amazon Web Services EC2) Elastic Compute Cloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoKhLbkCX5g&index=4&list=PLbAauqV4HwDTc8OA58KjzbWFECap-E0u_