Troubleshooting Windows 11 Native SSH.exe Not Showing Password Prompt in Emacs
In this article, we will discuss the issue of the Windows 11 native SSH client, SSH.exe, not showing the password prompt when used through Emacs. This problem can be frustrating for users who rely on Emacs and SSH to access remote servers. We will go through some possible causes and solutions for this issue.
Background
Emacs is a popular text editor and integrated development environment (IDE) that supports various programming languages, including those that run on remote servers. To access remote servers from Emacs, users often use the built-in Tramp mode, which allows them to edit files on remote hosts transparently.
Tramp mode typically uses SSH as the underlying protocol to access remote servers. In Windows 11, SSH.exe is the native SSH client that Tramp mode uses. However, some users have reported that when using Tramp mode with Emacs, the password prompt does not appear, and the SSH connection hangs.
Causes
There are several possible causes for the password prompt not appearing in Emacs when using the Windows 11 native SSH.exe client:
- Bad configuration settings in Emacs or the SSH client
- Interference from antivirus or firewall software
- An incorrect or outdated version of SSH.exe
- Incompatibility between Emacs and SSH.exe
Solutions
Check Configuration Settings
The first step in troubleshooting this issue is to check the configuration settings in Emacs and the SSH client. Ensure that the settings for SSH.exe in Emacs are correct and that the path to the SSH executable is accurate.
(setq tramp-ssh-controlmaster-options "-o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPath=~/.ssh/master-%r@%h:%p")
(setq tramp-ssh-login-args (list "-l" user "-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no"))
You may also need to check the settings for your antivirus or firewall software to ensure that it's not blocking the SSH connection. If the issue persists, try temporarily disabling the antivirus or firewall software to see if it resolves the issue.
Update SSH.exe
If the issue is caused by an outdated version of SSH.exe, you may need to update it to the latest version. You can download the latest version of SSH.exe from the Microsoft website. Once downloaded, replace the existing SSH executable with the new one and try connecting again.
Use an Alternative SSH Client
If the issue is caused by incompatibility between Emacs and SSH.exe, you may need to use an alternative SSH client that's compatible with Emacs. There are several alternative SSH clients available, such as PuTTY or OpenSSH.
To use an alternative SSH client, you'll need to configure Emacs to use it instead of the native SSH.exe client. You can do this by setting the tramp-ssh-program variable in Emacs:
(setq tramp-ssh-program "path/to/alternative/ssh")
Disable ControlMaster
If none of the above solutions work, you may need to disable the ControlMaster feature in SSH. This feature allows multiple SSH sessions to share a single SSH control channel, reducing the overhead of establishing a new connection. However, it can sometimes cause issues with Tramp mode in Emacs.
To disable the ControlMaster feature, add the following option to the tramp-ssh-login-args variable:
(setq tramp-ssh-login-args (list "-l" user "-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no" "-o ControlMaster=no"))
- The issue of the Windows 11 native SSH client, SSH.exe, not showing the password prompt in Emacs can be caused by bad configuration settings, interference from antivirus or firewall software, an incorrect or outdated version of SSH.exe, or incompatibility between Emacs and SSH.exe.
- To troubleshoot this issue, check the configuration settings in Emacs and the SSH client, update SSH.exe, use an alternative SSH client, disable the ControlMaster feature, or temporarily disable the antivirus or firewall software.
- References: