How to SSH (PuTTY) without using the AWS Lightsail private key

First, you need to log in to your AWS Lightsail account.

Then we will need to set up a new password.

run this command first to get root user privileges

$ sudo su

Change the default password but typing the below command. This will set up a new password for bitnami user so you can use it to SSH later. For now, our user is bitnami.

# passwd bitnami

After this, you have to modify the SSH config on the AWS Lightsail instance to enable password-based authentication.

Edit the /etc/ssh/sshd_config by running this command

#nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

and modify or add the following line:

PasswordAuthentication yes

After the edit, you need to press CTR + X then press Y and hit ENTER to save

Now we need to restart sshd server by running this command

# systemctl restart sshd

You can now use the password you created for “bitnami” user to login via Putty without using the AWS Lightsail private key.