ssh server config - input_userauth_request: invalid user

I have a problem configuring my SSH server to be able to log in with public key, without password.

tail -f /var/log/auth.log gives

Feb  6 14:56:06 ubuntu sshd[24654]: rexec line 26: Deprecated option RhostsAuthentication
Feb  6 14:56:28 ubuntu sshd[24654]: Invalid user mpsd from ip.ip.ip.ip
Feb  6 14:56:28 ubuntu sshd[24654]: input_userauth_request: invalid user mpsd [preauth]
Feb  6 14:56:28 ubuntu sshd[24654]: error: Received disconnect from ip.ip.ip.ip: 14: No supported authentication methods available [preauth]

I have checked that /home/mpsd/.ssh has 700 and /home/mpsd/.ssh/authorized_keys has 600 permissions. authorized_keys contains the rsa public key generated on my remote windows machine. my sshd_config reads

Port 22
# Use these options to restrict which interfaces/protocols sshd will bind to
#ListenAddress ::
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
Protocol 2

HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key

UsePrivilegeSeparation yes
KeyRegenerationInterval 3600
ServerKeyBits 1024
SyslogFacility AUTH
LogLevel INFO
LoginGraceTime 120
PermitRootLogin yes
StrictModes yes
RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
AuthorizedKeysFile ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

# Don't read the user's ~/.rhosts and ~/.shosts files
IgnoreRhosts yes
RhostsRSAAuthentication no
RhostsAuthentication no
HostbasedAuthentication no
IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes

PermitEmptyPasswords yes
ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
PasswordAuthentication no

# Kerberos options
#KerberosAuthentication no
#KerberosGetAFSToken no
#KerberosOrLocalPasswd yes
#KerberosTicketCleanup yes

# GSSAPI options
#GSSAPIAuthentication no
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes

X11Forwarding yes
X11DisplayOffset 10
PrintMotd no
PrintLastLog yes
TCPKeepAlive yes
#UseLogin no

#MaxStartups 10:30:60
#Banner /etc/issue.net

# Allow client to pass locale environment variables
AcceptEnv LANG LC_*

Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server

# Set this to 'yes' to enable PAM authentication, account processing,
# and session processing. If this is enabled, PAM authentication will
# be allowed through the ChallengeResponseAuthentication and
# PasswordAuthentication.  Depending on your PAM configuration,
# PAM authentication via ChallengeResponseAuthentication may bypass
# the setting of "PermitRootLogin without-password".
# If you just want the PAM account and session checks to run without
# PAM authentication, then enable this but set PasswordAuthentication
# and ChallengeResponseAuthentication to 'no'.
UsePAM no

I don't know why the message says invalid user, since it clearly exists. Thanks for any help.

Solution 1:

At the moment your sshd configuration has no authentication methods enabled, thus it's impossible for sshd to authenticate users.

By default sshd uses the local PAM setup to authenticate users. But, ssmeone who administers your system changed the default UsePAM yes to UsePAM no. Simply revert this change.