Chef::Exceptions::PrivateKeyMissing

chef_error.txt

[Thu, 12 May 2011 16:46:45 -0400] WARN: Failed to read the private key /etc/chef/client.pem: #<Errno::ENOENT: No such file or directory - /etc/chef/client.pem>
[Thu, 12 May 2011 16:46:45 -0400] ERROR: Running exception handlers
[Thu, 12 May 2011 16:46:45 -0400] ERROR: Exception handlers complete
[Thu, 12 May 2011 16:46:45 -0400] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /tmp/chef-stacktrace.out
[Thu, 12 May 2011 16:46:45 -0400] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::PrivateKeyMissing: I cannot read /etc/chef/client.pem, which you told me to use to sign requests!

solo.rb

# chef-solo -c /etc/chef/solo.rb -j /etc/chef/dna.json
file_cache_path  "/tmp"
cookbook_path    ["/tmp/chef-solo/cookbooks", "/tmp/chef-solo/site_cookbooks"]
role_path        "/tmp/chef-solo/roles"
log_level        :info
log_location     STDOUT
ssl_verify_mode  :verify_none

is this with the lucid64 vagrant box? did you ever figure out what's going on here?

remove the environment line

No, I figured it out. If your cookbooks do searches or need any kind of interaction with a chef server, chef-solo will behave like a regular chef client (requiring client registration, etc.). This is why it's complaining about the missing private key.

Ah, thanks, that fits with my version of the error and the environment line being specified.

Can someone tell me how to fix this? I am getting the exact same error. Do I change the environment line??

I had to install http://community.opscode.com/cookbooks/chef-solo-search to fix this problem.

Changing the provisioner from chef_solo to chef_zero should also do it, but if your cookbook fails without data bags, you need to define them statically. The nagios cookbook has a pretty good example of this.

I was getting the same error then running as sudo helped me here

[2020-06-01T08:43:57+00:00] FATAL: Stacktrace dumped to /home/ec2-user/.chef/cache/chef-stacktrace.out
[2020-06-01T08:43:57+00:00] FATAL: Please provide the contents of the stacktrace.out file if you file a bug report
[2020-06-01T08:43:57+00:00] FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::PrivateKeyMissing: I cannot read /etc/chef/client.pem, which you told me to use to sign requests!
[ec2-user@client chef]$ chmod 600 client.pem
chmod: changing permissions of ‘client.pem’: Operation not permitted
[ec2-user@client chef]$ sudo chef-client
Starting Chef Infra Client, version 15.11.3
resolving cookbooks for run list: ["starter"]
Synchronizing Cookbooks:

• starter (1.0.0)
  Installing Cookbook Gems:
  Compiling Cookbooks...
  Converging 1 resources
  Recipe: starter::default

• log[Welcome to Chef, Sam Doe!] action write

Running handlers:
Running handlers complete
Chef Infra Client finished, 1/1 resources updated in 05 seconds
[ec2-user@client chef]$