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@samhocevar
Last active October 17, 2024 17:02
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Configure sshd on MSYS2 and run it as a Windows service
#!/bin/sh
#
# msys2-sshd-setup.sh — configure sshd on MSYS2 and run it as a Windows service
#
# Please report issues and/or improvements to Sam Hocevar <sam@hocevar.net>
#
# Prerequisites:
# — MSYS2 itself: http://sourceforge.net/projects/msys2/
# — admin tools: pacman -S openssh cygrunsrv mingw-w64-x86_64-editrights
#
# This script is a cleaned up and improved version of the procedure initially
# found at https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/wiki/Building/Windows/SSHD
#
# Gotchas:
# — the log file will be /var/log/msys2_sshd.log
# — if you get error “sshd: fatal: seteuid XXX : No such device or address”
# in the logs, try “passwd -R” (with admin privileges)
#
# Changelog:
# 27 Jun 2019 — rename service to msys2_sshd to avoid conflicts with Windows OpenSSH
# — use mkgroup.exe as suggested in the comments
# — fix a problem with CRLF and grep
# 24 Aug 2015 — run server with -e to redirect logs to /var/log/sshd.log
#
set -e
#
# Configuration
#
PRIV_USER=sshd_server
PRIV_NAME="Privileged user for sshd"
UNPRIV_USER=sshd # DO NOT CHANGE; this username is hardcoded in the openssh code
UNPRIV_NAME="Privilege separation user for sshd"
EMPTY_DIR=/var/empty
#
# Check installation sanity
#
if ! /mingw64/bin/editrights -h >/dev/null; then
echo "ERROR: Missing 'editrights'. Try: pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-editrights."
exit 1
fi
if ! cygrunsrv -v >/dev/null; then
echo "ERROR: Missing 'cygrunsrv'. Try: pacman -S cygrunsrv."
exit 1
fi
if ! ssh-keygen -A; then
echo "ERROR: Missing 'ssh-keygen'. Try: pacman -S openssh."
exit 1
fi
#
# The privileged cyg_server user
#
# Some random password; this is only needed internally by cygrunsrv and
# is limited to 14 characters by Windows (lol)
tmp_pass="$(tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' < /dev/urandom | dd count=14 bs=1 2>/dev/null)"
# Create user
add="$(if ! net user "${PRIV_USER}" >/dev/null; then echo "//add"; fi)"
if ! net user "${PRIV_USER}" "${tmp_pass}" ${add} //fullname:"${PRIV_NAME}" \
//homedir:"$(cygpath -w ${EMPTY_DIR})" //yes; then
echo "ERROR: Unable to create Windows user ${PRIV_USER}"
exit 1
fi
# Add user to the Administrators group if necessary
admingroup="$(mkgroup -l | awk -F: '{if ($2 == "S-1-5-32-544") print $1;}')"
if ! (net localgroup "${admingroup}" | grep -q '^'"${PRIV_USER}"'\>'); then
if ! net localgroup "${admingroup}" "${PRIV_USER}" //add; then
echo "ERROR: Unable to add user ${PRIV_USER} to group ${admingroup}"
exit 1
fi
fi
# Infinite passwd expiry
passwd -e "${PRIV_USER}"
# set required privileges
for flag in SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege SeCreateTokenPrivilege \
SeTcbPrivilege SeDenyRemoteInteractiveLogonRight SeServiceLogonRight; do
if ! /mingw64/bin/editrights -a "${flag}" -u "${PRIV_USER}"; then
echo "ERROR: Unable to give ${flag} rights to user ${PRIV_USER}"
exit 1
fi
done
#
# The unprivileged sshd user (for privilege separation)
#
add="$(if ! net user "${UNPRIV_USER}" >/dev/null; then echo "//add"; fi)"
if ! net user "${UNPRIV_USER}" ${add} //fullname:"${UNPRIV_NAME}" \
//homedir:"$(cygpath -w ${EMPTY_DIR})" //active:no; then
echo "ERROR: Unable to create Windows user ${PRIV_USER}"
exit 1
fi
#
# Add or update /etc/passwd entries
#
touch /etc/passwd
for u in "${PRIV_USER}" "${UNPRIV_USER}"; do
sed -i -e '/^'"${u}"':/d' /etc/passwd
SED='/^'"${u}"':/s?^\(\([^:]*:\)\{5\}\).*?\1'"${EMPTY_DIR}"':/bin/false?p'
mkpasswd -l -u "${u}" | sed -e 's/^[^:]*+//' | sed -ne "${SED}" \
>> /etc/passwd
done
mkgroup.exe -l > /etc/group
#
# Finally, register service with cygrunsrv and start it
#
cygrunsrv -R msys2_sshd || true
cygrunsrv -I msys2_sshd -d "MSYS2 sshd" -p \
/usr/bin/sshd.exe -a "-D -e" -y tcpip -u "${PRIV_USER}" -w "${tmp_pass}"
# The SSH service should start automatically when Windows is rebooted. You can
# manually restart the service by running `net stop msys2_sshd` + `net start msys2_sshd`
if ! net start msys2_sshd; then
echo "ERROR: Unable to start msys2_sshd service"
exit 1
fi
@imfatant
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imfatant commented Mar 22, 2018

If you're a casual Windows 10 user who has admin rights and who hasn't bothered to set a Windows password, then the following method works (bear in mind that there are a couple of unnecessary steps here, but at least this really does work):

1. Run MSYS2 shell as admin.
2. pacman -S --noconfirm openssh cygrunsrv mingw-w64-x86_64-editrights
3. passwd <username>  # Enter a password here.
4. Reboot your computer. Log in this time with the password you just set. Run MSYS2 shell as admin again.
5. ssh-keygen -A
6. ssh-keygen -b 4096
7. :>| /var/log/lastlog
8. mkpasswd -c >/etc/passwd
9. Run the script. Some of the messages look like errors. They aren't; it's just the way the script's been written.

Remember to open port 22 in your Windows firewall.

1. To stop the service, use: net stop sshd
2. To remove the service, use: cygrunsrv -R sshd
3. To stop having to enter a Windows password, run MSYS2 as admin again and use: passwd <username>,  pressing return twice to leave the password blank.

@stephe-ada-guru
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Thanks for this script! I have Windows 10 Home, which doesn't have the "run as Admin" option on Start items. But I can run Power Shell as admin, via the Windows-x menu, and run mingw64.exe from there. Then the script runs. After disabling firewall on private network, I can login.

@InBetweenNames
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I'm having the same problem @ghost and @AllenKll are having.

@KenJackson
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I just used this script successfully on Windows10. But I'm already running Cygwin sshd on the same machine, so I had to make some adjustments:

  • Edited this script to replace "sshd" with "msshd"
  • Edited /etc/ssh/sshd_config to specify a different port (instead of 22)
  • Added a rule to Windows Firewall to allow incoming TCP on that port
  • Picked a new fake hostname
  • edited my .bashrc file to override $HOSTNAME, hostname and uname

These two steps had to be done for MSYS2, Cygwin and for every machine I connect from:

  • Edited /etc/hosts to give the fake hostname the same IP address as the real Windows machine
  • Edited ~/.ssh/config to specify the right port for the new fake hostname

Everything works fine!
The only potential issue I see is that user "sshd" is apparently used by both Cygwin and MSYS2, though it hasn't caused any problem yet.

@rcpao-enmotus
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Anyone have a solution to "passwd: unrecoverable error 8646" in Win10 Pro 1809 64-bit?

MSYS ~
# passwd rcpao
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646
Try again.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646
Try again.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646

MSYS ~
#

@bblancha
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bblancha commented Nov 18, 2018

@InBetweenNames @ghost @AllenKll :
In addition to
# mkpasswd.exe -l > /etc/passwd
I had to do
# mkgroup.exe -l > /etc/group

Then I restarted the sshd service.
# net stop sshd
# net start sshd
after that, I was able to login and no longer saw the chown error in sshd.log

@illwieckz
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illwieckz commented Mar 21, 2019

@samhocevar, can you put a license on this script? WTFPL2 is ok. ;-)

@hikikomori4
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hikikomori4 commented Jun 20, 2019

Q: How I can view windows root (disk C,D, others)? In cygwin default access here: /cygdrive/c$ Where its in msys2???
A: cd /c/ to access C: cd /d/ for D:

But why there are no ready symlinks for a quick go? Like in CygWin?

@bk90
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bk90 commented Nov 4, 2019

@samhocevar I ran into the seteuid issue but could not fix it with the passwd -R method. I found this thread and finally solved the issue by

  • running sshd as the SYSTEM user
  • removing /etc/passwd and /etc/group

Now I can log in again with local and LDAP accounts. Both the additional privileged user and the files seem to have been workarounds which are no longer necessary and even problematic nowadays. I'm not sure wether the unprivileged sshd user is still necessary, but you could completely remove the PRIV_USER, /etc/passwd and /etc/group parts from the script.

@samhocevar
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Author

@bk90 thanks for the feedback; this script is indeed in need of some cleanup, I will test your suggestions.

@elieux
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elieux commented Apr 16, 2020

@samhocevar, I made the changes mentioned by @bk90 and published an updated version of the script here: https://www.msys2.org/wiki/Setting-up-SSHd/

@kolewu
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kolewu commented May 8, 2020

@elieux the script in msys-wiki is missing the generation of tmp_pass. What's more, it still contains the unnecessary PRIV_USER.

@elieux
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elieux commented May 9, 2020

Thanks, @kolewu. I don't know how I missed this. Should be fixed in a few minutes.

@ylluminate
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Shouldn't this be renamed from gistfile1.sh to msys2-sshd-setup.sh?

@kolewu
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kolewu commented May 9, 2020

@elieux Thanks for the quick correction. There is an important information that should be added somewhere (but I don't know where): This configuration of sshd only works for local user. It's not possible to login as domain user (this produces the seteuid fatal error) and I haven't found the missing bits and pieces (passwd -R isn't enough).

@jmgbsas
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jmgbsas commented Aug 24, 2020

For me the more practical solution was in this link
the section Setting up SSH , without user with privileg...for my desktop....
the script do not run for me ...many issues, thanks
https://www.booleanworld.com/get-unix-linux-environment-windows-msys2/

@dgleba
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dgleba commented Aug 18, 2021

thanks! this worked for me.

@dmikushin
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dmikushin commented Nov 25, 2021

There is an important information that should be added somewhere (but I don't know where): This configuration of sshd only works for local user. It's not possible to login as domain user (this produces the seteuid fatal error) and I haven't found the missing bits and pieces (passwd -R isn't enough).

@kolewu Thanks for a very helpful note. Apparently this is solved in https://github.com/rkitover/windows-alt-sshd-msys2

@wapiti96
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I've tried several different versions of this script including this one, https://www.msys2.org/wiki/Setting-up-SSHd/, and https://github.com/rkitover/windows-alt-sshd-msys2/blob/master/msys2-alt-sshd-setup.sh. All have issues.

When I run this script I get the below error:
"The user name could not be found.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2221.

The option //ADD is unknown.

The syntax of this command is:

NET USER
[username [password | *] [options]] [/DOMAIN]
username {password | *} /ADD [options] [/DOMAIN]
username [/DELETE] [/DOMAIN]
username [/TIMES:{times | ALL}]
username [/ACTIVE: {YES | NO}]

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3506.

ERROR: Unable to create Windows user "

How do I get around this? I tried jouven's instructions. I ran /usr/bin/mkpasswd | grep using my personal account and copied that line into /etc/passwd. I already have a password on my account, but still tried passwd and it said "You may not change the password for ?. I thought that was fine so I continued on and ran the script and got the error above. Any ideas? Thanks

@rkitover
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@wapiti96 The script uses //ADD to tell the msys2 path handling converter to not treat it as a path and convert it to /ADD.

Make sure you are not setting the environment variable MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL or other variables related to path conversion.

@Kreijstal
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if you want to execute a windows app say notepad you are running windows service you have to use a weird hack like this

MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="*" schtasks /create /sc once /tn "NotepadIn10Sec" /tr "notepad.exe" /st  $(date -d @"$((current_time=$(date +%s) +40 ))" +"%H:%M:%S")  && ( sleep 50;  MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL="*" schtasks /delete /tn "NotepadIn10Sec" /f)

assuming you're logged in as the same user

@Kreijstal
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and in case you're on a firewall:

cygrunsrv -R msys2_autossh ; cygrunsrv -I msys2_autossh -d "MSYS2 autossh" -p "/usr/bin/bash.exe" -a "autossh -M 0 -i /home/myuser/.ssh/id_rsa -o UserKnownHostsFile=/home/myuser/.ssh/known_hosts -R 9090:localhost:22 remoteuser@192.168.59.30 -N" -y msys2_sshd

@improve100
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Anyone have a solution to "passwd: unrecoverable error 8646" in Win10 Pro 1809 64-bit?

MSYS ~
# passwd rcpao
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646
Try again.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646
Try again.
New password:
Re-enter new password:
passwd: unrecoverable error 8646

MSYS ~
#

metoo

@rkitover
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rkitover commented Sep 5, 2024

@improve100 just use a key instead

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