Establish SSH connection on an ActiveDirectory Windows machine

Question

I am currently working on a machine inside of an active directory. Thus my home directory is located on a network drive (in this case drive-letter h ). I now wanted to pull a git repository via ssh from a Gitlab-instance inside the same network. Unfortunately, the ssh connection cannot be established with the error message:

Load key "/h/.ssh/id_rsa": Permission denied

So I compared the permissions of my other (working) local machine with the ones on my network-home-directory and they match up exactly. Three entries (SYSTEM, actual user & the admin-group) with full access as can be seen in the following image .

The complete ssh-output from ssh -vvv git@server:

$ ssh -vvv git@server
OpenSSH_8.4p1, OpenSSL 1.1.1h  22 Sep 2020
debug1: Reading configuration data /h//.ssh/config
debug3: kex names ok: [diffie-hellman-group1-sha1]
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug3: expanded UserKnownHostsFile '~/.ssh/known_hosts' -> '/h/.ssh/known_hosts'
debug3: expanded UserKnownHostsFile '~/.ssh/known_hosts2' -> '/h/.ssh/known_hosts2'
debug2: resolving "server" port 22
debug2: ssh_connect_direct
debug1: Connecting to server [xx.xxx.xx.xx] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_rsa type 0
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_xmss type -1
debug1: identity file /h/.ssh/id_xmss-cert type -1
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_8.4
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_6.7p1 Debian-5+deb8u8
debug1: match: OpenSSH_6.7p1 Debian-5+deb8u8 pat OpenSSH* compat 0x04000000
debug2: fd 3 setting O_NONBLOCK
debug1: Authenticating to server:22 as 'git'
debug3: hostkeys_foreach: reading file "/h/.ssh/known_hosts"
debug3: send packet: type 20
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug3: receive packet: type 20
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug2: local client KEXINIT proposal
debug2: KEX algorithms: curve25519-sha256,curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group16-sha512,diffie-hellman-group18-sha512,diffie-hellman-group14-sha256,ext-info-c
debug2: host key algorithms: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384-cert-v01@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521-cert-v01@openssh.com,sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256-cert-v01@openssh.com,ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,sk-ssh-ed25519-cert-v01@openssh.com,rsa-sha2-512-cert-v01@openssh.com,rsa-sha2-256-cert-v01@openssh.com,ssh-rsa-cert-v01@openssh.com,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ecdsa-sha2-nistp384,ecdsa-sha2-nistp521,sk-ecdsa-sha2-nistp256@openssh.com,ssh-ed25519,sk-ssh-ed25519@openssh.com,rsa-sha2-512,rsa-sha2-256,ssh-rsa
debug2: ciphers ctos: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,aes256-cbc,aes192-cbc
debug2: ciphers stoc: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com,aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc,aes256-cbc,aes192-cbc
debug2: MACs ctos: umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: MACs stoc: umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: compression ctos: none,zlib@openssh.com,zlib
debug2: compression stoc: none,zlib@openssh.com,zlib
debug2: languages ctos:
debug2: languages stoc:
debug2: first_kex_follows 0
debug2: reserved 0
debug2: peer server KEXINIT proposal
debug2: KEX algorithms: curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,ecdh-sha2-nistp256,ecdh-sha2-nistp384,ecdh-sha2-nistp521,diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256,diffie-hellman-group14-sha1
debug2: host key algorithms: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss,ecdsa-sha2-nistp256,ssh-ed25519
debug2: ciphers ctos: aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
debug2: ciphers stoc: aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-gcm@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com,chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com
debug2: MACs ctos: umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: MACs stoc: umac-64-etm@openssh.com,umac-128-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha1-etm@openssh.com,umac-64@openssh.com,umac-128@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256,hmac-sha2-512,hmac-sha1
debug2: compression ctos: none,zlib@openssh.com
debug2: compression stoc: none,zlib@openssh.com
debug2: languages ctos:
debug2: languages stoc:
debug2: first_kex_follows 0
debug2: reserved 0
debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256@libssh.org
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC: <implicit> compression: none
debug3: send packet: type 30
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug3: receive packet: type 31
debug1: Server host key: ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 SHA256:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The authenticity of host 'server (xx.xxx.xx.xx)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts (/h/.ssh/known_hosts).
debug3: send packet: type 21
debug2: set_newkeys: mode 1
debug1: rekey out after 134217728 blocks
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug3: receive packet: type 21
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug2: set_newkeys: mode 0
debug1: rekey in after 134217728 blocks
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_rsa RSA SHA256:XXXXXXXXXX/XXXX/XXXXX+XXXXXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_dsa
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
debug1: Will attempt key: /h/.ssh/id_xmss
debug2: pubkey_prepare: done
debug3: send packet: type 5
debug3: receive packet: type 6
debug2: service_accept: ssh-userauth
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug3: send packet: type 50
debug3: receive packet: type 51
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password
debug3: start over, passed a different list publickey,password
debug3: preferred publickey,keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_lookup publickey
debug3: remaining preferred: keyboard-interactive,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering public key: /h/.ssh/id_rsa RSA SHA256:XXXXXXXXXX/XXXX/XXXXX+XXXXXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX
debug3: send packet: type 50
debug2: we sent a publickey packet, wait for reply
debug3: receive packet: type 60
debug1: Server accepts key: /h/.ssh/id_rsa RSA SHA256:XXXXXXXXXX/XXXX/XXXXX+XXXXXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX
debug3: sign_and_send_pubkey: RSA SHA256:XXXXXXXXXX/XXXX/XXXXX+XXXXXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX
debug3: sign_and_send_pubkey: signing using ssh-rsa SHA256:XXXXXXXXXX/XXXX/XXXXX+XXXXXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX
Load key "/h/.ssh/id_rsa": Permission denied

debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_dsa
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_dsa: No such file or directory
debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa: No such file or directory
debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk: No such file or directory
debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519: No such file or directory
debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk: No such file or directory
debug1: Trying private key: /h/.ssh/id_xmss
debug3: no such identity: /h/.ssh/id_xmss: No such file or directory
debug2: we did not send a packet, disable method
debug3: authmethod_lookup password
debug3: remaining preferred: ,password
debug3: authmethod_is_enabled password
debug1: Next authentication method: password
git@server's password:

I managed to pull repositories on active directories on other machines in the past, so clearly I am missing something.

Has anyone else faced similar issues?

Answer 1

Check first with which account your GitLab instance is running.

If it is not yours, it might not have permission to access your own HOME on the network drive H:\

The OP Sebastian adds in the comments :

As if this isn't strange enough, it suddenly just worked normally since yesterday. And that without any further changes since a week ago.

Maybe it was a fixed issue with Windows OpenSSH or something.