# sshd: Is PasswordAuthentication disabled on the Production image?

**URL:** <https://forums.balena.io/t/sshd-is-passwordauthentication-disabled-on-the-production-image/373966>\
**Category:** Product support\
**Tags:** balenaos\
**Created:** [April 4, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/sshd-is-passwordauthentication-disabled-on-the-production-image/373966 "2025-04-04T17:58:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![parsenault-intelcom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@parsenault-intelcom](https://forums.balena.io/u/parsenault-intelcom)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/sshd-is-passwordauthentication-disabled-on-the-production-image/373966/1 "2025-04-04T17:58:59Z")

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Hi! I’m trying to verify if the sshd service has `PasswordAuthentication` disabled on the BalenaOS production image.

Under `/etc/ssh`, I found 3 sshd\_config files: `sshd_config` `sshd_config_development` and `sshd_config_readonly`:

- `sshd_config` and `sshd_config_development` do not define PasswordAuthentication, so it would default to yes
- `sshd_config_readonly` explicitely disables PasswordAuthentication with `PasswordAuthentication no`

Questions:

- What sshd\_config file is used by the sshd service?
- Is PasswordAuthentication disabled on the Production image?

I’m using balenaOS 6.5.9 on Raspberry Pi 4 (using 64bit OS)

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**Author:** ![klutchell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/klutchell/32/861_2.png) [@klutchell](https://forums.balena.io/u/klutchell)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/sshd-is-passwordauthentication-disabled-on-the-production-image/373966/2 "2025-04-11T19:11:25Z")

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Hey there, welcome to the forums and thanks for the question!

I can confirm that SSH password authentication is disabled on production images.  
Passwordless access is enabled for development images unless SSH keys are provided via config.json.

You can read more about the differences between production and development modes [here](https://docs.balena.io/reference/OS/overview/#development-vs-production-mode).

I hope this helps!