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Asked: 2011-08-12 14:45:43 +0800 CST

How do I disable SSHD from starting automatically?

  • 772

After installing openssh-server, the server start every time I boot. If I want it to be manual what do I need to do?

In version 0.6.7+ of upstart I would add a "manual" stanza to the job file.

10.04 has upstart 0.6.5-8. What is the preferred way to disable ssh from starting automatically in this case?

sshd

9 Answers

  1. Rename /etc/init/ssh.conf to /etc/init/ssh.conf.disabled.

    sudo mv /etc/init/ssh.conf /etc/init/ssh.conf.disabled
    • 34

  2. This should be enough,:

     update-rc.d ssh enable # sets the default runlevels to on 
 update-rc.d ssh disable # sets all to off
    • 22

  3. In your /etc/init/ssh.conf, comment out the start on line:

    # ssh - OpenBSD Secure Shell server
#
# The OpenSSH server provides secure shell access to the system.

description     "OpenSSH server"

#start on filesystem or runlevel [2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]

respawn
respawn limit 10 5
umask 022
    • 10

  4. For system having systemd the proper way to do it is

    sudo systemctl disable ssh.service

    then

    sudo systemctl stop ssh.service
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  5. note to the reader:

    for me (ubuntu 14.xx) only Bryan Agee's answer worked: /etc/init/ssh.conf: comment out the "start on filesystem or runlevel..." line

    why won't the others do?

    sudo mv /etc/init/ssh.conf /etc/init/ssh.conf.disabled

    will result in completly deactivating the service. It is then not startable through "service ssh start" anymore.

    update-rc.d ssh enable # sets the default runlevels to on

    does simply not work (perhaps uses different autostart routine)

    /etc/init/ssh.conf.override with "manual"

    simply doesnt work

    touch /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run

    also completly disables the system

    sudo apt-get install bum

    nice software, but it doesn't show ssh, so nothing to do here

    person questioning: why are the above answeres even here? is the start system so complicated or does nobody tries his solutions? oO

    • 8 
  6. sudo apt-get install bum

    Start bum with administrative privileges, disable openssh-server, confirm it, done.

    • 4

  7. For versions with ssh started by upstart, run touch /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run. The upstart init script checks for this file and, if existent, does not start sshd.

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  8. The manual method provided /etc/init/ssh.config.override method does not work for me using Ubuntu 14.04.03. sshd still starts automatically.

    The /etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run method prevents manual sshd start.

    I had to use Brian Agee's method of removing the "start on" on line of /etc/init/ssh.conf. Then to manually start sshd:

    sudo service ssh start
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  9. I had the same question and here's what I did about it. It's a bit of a hack, perhaps, but it works well enough, and you don't need to compromise the program in any way. Put the following in your crontab:

    @reboot sudo service ssh stop

    This tells cron to stop ssh every time you turn on your computer. Using ssh to connect to another computer isn't affected, as this only turns off the server service. And if you want to re-enable it for a short while, all you have to do is:

    sudo service ssh start

    Just remember to turn it back off when you're done!

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