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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot

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    • mituM
      mitu Global Moderator @creativename
      last edited by

      @creativename Enabling SSH should only be done once and it should stay enabled, no matter what method you use (raspi-config or adding the ssh file in /boot). If it doesn't stay enabled, then you have a problem with the OS. How did you installt he system ? Are you using the RetroPie provided image or did you install over Raspbian, or .. ?
      Check if the SSH is enabled, after you boot, with systemctl status ssh, it should say enabled.

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        creativename @mitu
        last edited by

        @mitu I downloaded the image from https://retropie.org.uk/download/ and copied it to a blank sd card via windiskimager

        ....

        i guess i'm glad to know that my experience is not the intended behavior...I for the life of me couldn't understand why a system would be designed in such a way...obvoiusly if i go through the trouble of adding a particularly named file to the /boot partition, I want it to stay there. i still do wonder...if RaspbianOS (which is the underlying os for retropie) is setup to delete that file everytime, then isn't THAT the problem? since I need that file there in order for SSH to be enabled at boot??....

        tia

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        • dankcushionsD
          dankcushions Global Moderator
          last edited by

          the deletion of the file is correct. it uses it to set SSH on and that setting should maintain between boots whether the file is there or not. something else going on here...

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            creativename @dankcushions
            last edited by

            @dankcushions said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

            the deletion of the file is correct. it uses it to set SSH on and that setting should maintain between boots whether the file is there or not. something else going on here...

            ahh okay, gotcha...i was assuming that the "ssh" file was needed by Retropie but Raspbian kept deleting it...essentially an issue of conflicting goals of the two software sets... but your saying that Retropie/raspbian somehow "remembers" that the "ssh" file was once put there, and forever again keeps SSH server enabled?

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              creativename
              last edited by

              potentially dumb question incoming...

              would the fact that I typically shutdown the raspberry via EmulationStation and then unplug it and box it up have any impact here? is the problem the unplugging ie the loss of power to the board?

              i only ask because my (not scientific data-informed) memory has me thinking that sometimes SSH is still enabled after reboot, but most times its not. i shall do some testing and report back...

              BobHarrisB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • BobHarrisB
                BobHarris @creativename
                last edited by

                @creativename No you can unplug the Pi..it won't affect ssh settings.

                Pi 3B , 64 GB Sandisk ultra flashdrive, 19 systems, 872 hand picked classic gaming gems :-) Dual shock 4v2

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                  creativename @BobHarris
                  last edited by

                  @bobharris dern, well thanks for the info...other suggestions?

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                  • BobHarrisB
                    BobHarris @creativename
                    last edited by

                    @creativename said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

                    Reading online I learned that, since 4.2, SSH is disabled by default. I know how to enable it via raspi-config, no trouble there.

                    I also read that I could create a blank file "ssh" in /boot/ that would enable SSH on first boot. That worked fine and dandy....ONCE

                    All I ever did was enable SSH in raspi-config and then it was enabled for as long as I didn't change this setting. Why did you create the blank file? Maybe that's where things went wrong for you?

                    Pi 3B , 64 GB Sandisk ultra flashdrive, 19 systems, 872 hand picked classic gaming gems :-) Dual shock 4v2

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                      creativename @BobHarris
                      last edited by

                      @bobharris said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

                      All I ever did was enable SSH in raspi-config and then it was enabled for as long as I didn't change this setting. Why did you create the blank file? Maybe that's where things went wrong for you?

                      Yes, I tried just changing the setting in raspi-config at first. That didn't seem to make the SSH server "stick" at each boot and reboot. That's when i went for the creating the ssh file approach

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                      • ClydeC
                        Clyde @BobHarris
                        last edited by

                        @bobharris said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

                        All I ever did was enable SSH in raspi-config and then it was enabled for as long as I didn't change this setting. Why did you create the blank file? Maybe that's where things went wrong for you?

                        It's one of the official ways to enable ssh in Retropie (and Raspbian), so it shouldn't cause this behaviour.

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                          creativename @dankcushions
                          last edited by

                          @dankcushions said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

                          the deletion of the file is correct. it uses it to set SSH on and that setting should maintain between boots whether the file is there or not. something else going on here...

                          i think you must be right! i have the pi setup as 10.0.0.3 on dhcp reservations, and the Pi tells me it's IP is that one...i just tried to ping the address via windows10 machine, but get "destination host unreachable"

                          this, even thought the Pi is definitely connected to the network and it can, for example, download updates and ES themes

                          hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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                            creativename
                            last edited by

                            update...unticked a "WMM" wifi multimedia setting and rebooted...now i am connected, can ping, can SSH

                            I do experience a 25% packet loss when pinging from my windows machine. idk if its odd or normal, but its always the 3rd ping that is dropped

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                            • SanoS
                              Sano
                              last edited by

                              Firstof all, it seems more like a network issue than SSH disabled. You may verify SSH daemon status by systemctl status ssh.service, ps -ef | grep sshd or whatever method you prefer.
                              Second, a A class private network is quite overkill :)
                              Packet drops on a wired local network without routing should be extremely rare (at most).
                              Some points you may check :

                              • duplicate IP (would be a shame to choose same through 16 777 216 possibilities ;)
                              • more than one IP in the same subnet on the RPi (could your Wifi and your wired network be both configured ?)

                              Anyway, an ifconfig -aon the RPi and ipconfig /afrom your workstation could also help could help.

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                                creativename @Sano
                                last edited by

                                @sano said in Keep SSH enabled at EVERY boot:

                                Anyway, an ifconfig -aon the RPi and ipconfig /afrom your workstation could also help could help.

                                ifconfig -a on the RPi gave me ...

                                pi@retropie:~ $ ifconfig -a
                                eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:22:98:a5
                                inet6 addr: fe80::8c55:ae5a:faae:5db6/64 Scope:Link
                                UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
                                RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
                                TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
                                collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
                                RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

                                lo Link encap:Local Loopback
                                inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
                                inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
                                UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
                                RX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
                                TX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
                                collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
                                RX bytes:3860 (3.7 KiB) TX bytes:3860 (3.7 KiB)

                                wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:77:cd:f0
                                inet addr:10.0.0.3 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
                                inet6 addr: fe80::7de7:9a5d:d32c:a5b0/64 Scope:Link
                                UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
                                RX packets:389706 errors:0 dropped:2 overruns:0 frame:0
                                TX packets:282892 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
                                collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
                                RX bytes:563264644 (537.1 MiB) TX bytes:25512614 (24.3 MiB)

                                ipconfig on the Win10 machine gave me...

                                C:\Users****>ipconfig

                                Windows IP Configuration

                                Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

                                Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
                                Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

                                Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection:

                                Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
                                IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd2a:4e7f:9415:3a5a:4e96:1179:48a:4db2
                                Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7548:d707:e15d:4124%14
                                Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.65.36
                                Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
                                Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

                                Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

                                Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
                                Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c877:9c5d:ed33:4f4%8
                                IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2
                                Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
                                Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1

                                Tunnel adapter iphttpsinterface:

                                Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
                                IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : fd01:3ec5:6397:1000:51d:9bf5:5fbd:42d6
                                Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : fd01:3ec5:6397:1000:8862:8e26:e39f:cc0c
                                Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::51d:9bf5:5fbd:42d6%10
                                Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

                                Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

                                Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
                                Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

                                i think you may be right about it being an issue with my network as opposed to it being a problem with the RPi...for example, I'm SSHing into right now. But i'm still experiencing some network connection issues with the RPi that i do not experience with other machines on my network...including SSH connectivity but also accessing samba shares

                                SanoS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • SanoS
                                  Sano @creativename
                                  last edited by

                                  @creativename
                                  Let's start by unplugging the ethernet cable fro the pi if you don't use it.
                                  Everything seems ok besides this.

                                  Don't rely on ssh or cifs to check network. Nothing says "it's good" as a ping without packet loss :)

                                  Regarding your samba issue, IIRC it's a recent windows restriction that doesn't allow anonymous SMB access. So not the same issue (and not retropie fault IMHO).

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                                  • C
                                    creativename @Sano
                                    last edited by

                                    @sano no ethernet plugged in

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                                    • C
                                      creativename
                                      last edited by

                                      FYI for future seekers...

                                      I disabled "WMM" wifi media mode and rebooted. i am getting better overall connectivity with all my devices (previously i could connect to them but didn't always see the IP listed in router configs "attached devices" even though they had IPs), and this also seems to have stopped me from the frequent issue of not getting SSH access

                                      why did it work? not sure. but it works! maybe it was something else, but i would suggest giving it a try to people with similar probs. i don't know that WMM does much, since i haven't noticed any problems with other services since turning it off, such as netflix or streaming from my plex server

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                                      • G
                                        grant2258 Banned
                                        last edited by

                                        might not be related but when i shutdown and physically take the power off overnight. My wifi stops working i have to remove the usb dongal and put it in again for the system to work again. It doesnt do this everytime just most times it does. The thing is i have to shut my pie down because its in a bartop and there is no support to turn the monitor off just a screensaver that leaves the backlight on

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