If you’re seeing a “Permission denied (publickey)” error when trying to SSH into your DigitalOcean droplet, it typically means that there is a problem with the SSH key authentication process. Here are some possible solutions:

  1. Check that you are using the correct username and IP address for your droplet. Make sure that you have entered the correct credentials when trying to SSH into your droplet.
  2. Check that your public key is correctly installed on your droplet. DigitalOcean allows you to add SSH keys to your droplet during creation, but you can also add them later from the DigitalOcean control panel. Make sure that your public key is correctly installed on your droplet and associated with the correct user account.
  3. Check the permissions on your SSH key files. Make sure that the file permissions for your SSH key files are set correctly. The private key file should only be readable by you, and the public key file should be readable by anyone.
  4. Try specifying the path to your private key explicitly when connecting. By default, the SSH client will look for your private key in the ~/.ssh directory. If your key is located in a different directory, you can specify the path to your private key using the -i option when connecting. For example:
ssh -i /path/to/private/key username@ip_address
  1. Try using a different SSH client. If you’re using a third-party SSH client, try using the OpenSSH client instead. If you’re using the OpenSSH client, try using a third-party SSH client.

If none of these solutions work, you may need to reset your droplet’s root password or create a new droplet with a fresh SSH key pair.

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