🚫 Disable Root Login (Safely)

Disabling root login over SSH is a great way to improve your server’s security — but you must do it after you’ve set up a non-root user with SSH key access.

This guide helps you safely disable root SSH login without locking yourself out.

Step 1: Ensure You Have a Non-Root User

Log in to your VPS as root and create a new user (replace astro with your preferred username):

adduser astro

Add the user to the sudo group:

usermod -aG sudo astro

⚠️ This user will now have admin privileges using sudo.

Step 2: Copy Your SSH Key to the New User

Assuming your SSH public key is already on the server (from your earlier setup), copy it to the new user:

rsync --archive --chown=astro:astro ~/.ssh /home/astro

Or manually:

mkdir /home/astro/.ssh
cp ~/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/astro/.ssh/
chown -R astro:astro /home/astro/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/astro/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/astro/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 3: Test Your New Login

Before making any changes, open a new terminal window and try logging in as the new user:

ssh astro@your_vps_ip

If it works — and you can run sudo commands — you're good to go.

Step 4: Disable Root SSH Access

Once you're sure the new user works, edit the SSH config:

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find or add the line:

PermitRootLogin no

Save and restart SSH:

sudo systemctl restart sshd

✅ Done!

Root login over SSH is now disabled — but you still have full access through your new user with SSH keys.

🔒 Security tip: You can also change the default SSH port for extra protection, or use a firewall to limit IPs.

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