Clone git repo not working in vscode although git command succeeds (SSH)

Question

Trying to clone a git repository in Windows vscode from a private Linux host (SSH / client RSA key)

What is OK:

• In a command prompt, git clone ssh://gituser@... (passphrase request)
• connection with the vscode "Remote-SSH" extension (passphrase request)

The problem:

• In vscode, "Clone Git Repository..." fails without passphrase request: "Permission denied, please try again.gituser@192.168.1.18: Permission denied (publickey,password).fatal: Could not read from remote repository."

host sshd log:

...
debug1: userauth-request for user gituser service ssh-connection method publickey [preauth]
debug1: attempt 1 failures 0 [preauth]
debug1: userauth_pubkey: test whether pkalg/pkblob are acceptable for RSA SHA256:DlTkOFDZK... [preauth]
debug1: temporarily_use_uid: 1033/100 (e=0/0)
debug1: trying public key file /var/services/homes/gituser/.ssh/authorized_keys
debug1: fd 4 clearing O_NONBLOCK
debug1: matching key found: file /var/services/homes/gituser/.ssh/authorized_keys, line 1 RSA SHA256:DlTkOFDZK...
debug1: restore_uid: 0/0
Postponed publickey for gituser from 192.168.1.132 port 5xxx1 ssh2 [preauth]

debug1: userauth-request for user gituser service ssh-connection method password [preauth]
debug1: attempt 2 failures 0 [preauth]
debug1: PAM: password authentication failed for gituser: Permission denied
Failed none for gituser from 192.168.1.132 port 5xxx1 ssh2: RSA SHA256:DlTkOFDZK...
debug1: userauth-request for user gituser service ssh-connection method password [preauth]
debug1: attempt 3 failures 1 [preauth]
debug1: PAM: password authentication failed for gituser: Permission denied
Failed password for gituser from 192.168.1.132 port 5xxx1 ssh2
debug1: Unable to open the btmp file /var/log/btmp: No such file or directory
...

Answer 1

From the CMD where the clone does work, type

• set "GIT_SSH_COMMAND=ssh -Tv"
• "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd"

From there, try and clone again, this time checking what SSH key is actually used in that new VSCode session.