We have received error when connecting to Linux server using Putty client: PuTTY Fatal Error Network error: Connection refused Kali Linux. This error generally occurs if ssh service is down.
PuTTY Fatal Error --------------------------- Network error: Connection refused --------------------------- OK ---------------------------
Solution:
First install openssh-server and openssh-client
sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client
1. Lets verify the ssh service status by running the command.
service ssh status
root@kali:/etc/ssh# service ssh status ● ssh.service - OpenBSD Secure Shell server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ssh.service; disabled; vendor preset: disa Active: inactive (dead) Docs: man:sshd(8) man:sshd_config(5) Dec 30 11:19:49 kali sshd[2085]: Server listening on :: port 22. Dec 30 11:19:49 kali systemd[1]: Started OpenBSD Secure Shell server. Dec 30 11:20:09 kali sshd[2086]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; log Dec 30 11:20:11 kali sshd[2086]: Failed password for root from 192.168.152.1 port Dec 30 11:21:54 kali sshd[2097]: Accepted password for r2schools from 192.168.152 Dec 30 11:21:54 kali sshd[2097]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user Dec 30 11:25:42 kali systemd[1]: Stopping OpenBSD Secure Shell server... Dec 30 11:25:42 kali sshd[2085]: Received signal 15; terminating. Dec 30 11:25:42 kali systemd[1]: ssh.service: Succeeded. Dec 30 11:25:42 kali systemd[1]: Stopped OpenBSD Secure Shell server.
2. Start the ssh service by using below command.
service ssh start
3. Lets verify the ssh service status by running the command.
service ssh status
root@kali:/etc/ssh# service ssh status ● ssh.service - OpenBSD Secure Shell server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/ssh.service; disabled; vendor preset: disa Active: active (running) since Mon 2019-12-30 11:27:06 EST; 1min 7s ago Docs: man:sshd(8) man:sshd_config(5) Process: 2208 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/sshd -t (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 2209 (sshd) Tasks: 1 (limit: 4648) Memory: 1.2M CGroup: /system.slice/ssh.service └─2209 /usr/sbin/sshd -D Dec 30 11:27:06 kali systemd[1]: Starting OpenBSD Secure Shell server... Dec 30 11:27:06 kali sshd[2209]: Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22. Dec 30 11:27:06 kali sshd[2209]: Server listening on :: port 22. Dec 30 11:27:06 kali systemd[1]: Started OpenBSD Secure Shell server.