Knowledge Base

What is the solution to the SSH This service allows sftp connections only error?

If you receive the SSH This service allows sftp connections only error when connecting to a Linux-based operating system server via SSH, this is because you set the ForceCommand and Subsystem settings in sshd_config to sftp only.

To solve the error, we enter the following command:

We enter sshd_config with nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config.

At the bottom there will be lines of code as follows. We turn them into comment lines by putting a # sign in front of them.

Subsystem sftp internal-sftp
#Match User root
#X11Forwarding no
# AllowTcpForwarding no
#PermitTTY no
# ForceCommand internal-sftp -d /home/ubuntu

After completing the process, we restart the server with the following command.

systemctl restart ssh