In the following example, ssky-keygen and ssh-copy-id can be used to log on to a remote Linux host without a password. Ssh-keygen creates the public key and key. Ssh-copy-id copies the public key of the local host to the authorized_keys file of the remote host. The ssh-copy-id will also be sent to the user home directory (home) and ~ of the remote host ~ /. Ssh, and ~ /. Ssh/authorized_keys. Step 1: use ssh-key-gen to create the public key and key ligh @ local-host $ ssh-keygen-t rsaEnter file in which to save the key (/home/jsmith /. ssh/id_rsa): [Enter key] Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): [Press enter key] Enter same passphrase again: [Pess enter key] Your identification has been saved in/home/jsmith /. ssh/id_rsa.Your public key has been saved in/home/jsmith /. ssh/id_rsa.pub. the key fingerprint is: 33: B3: fe: af: 95: 95: 18: 11: 31: d5: de: 96: 2f: f2: 35: f9 ligh @ local-host Step 2: use ssh-copy-id to copy the public key to the remote host. ligh @ local-host $ ssh-copy-id-I ~ /. Ssh/id_rsa.pub root@192.168.0.3ligh @ remote-host's password: Now try logging into the machine, with-ssh? Remote-host '', and check in :. ssh/authorized_keys to make sure we haven't added extra keys that you weren' t expecting. [Note: The ssh-copy-id appends the key to the remote host. ssh/authorized_key.] step 3: log on to the remote host ligh @ local-host $ ssh remote-host Last login: Sun Nov 16 17:22:33 2008 from 192.168.1.2 [Note: SSH will not ask for the password.] ligh @ remote-host $ [Note: You have logged on to the remote host now]