sftp doesn't work with ssh keys on opensuse

[robbiedyer]

I've been trying to connect to a remote server using an SSH key for authentication but there seems to be a bug in Beyond Compare where it doesn't even attempt to connect using the specified key. I'm certain this is a Beyond Compare issue as I am able to SSH into the server using the key without issue and nothing is being logged on the remote server when I attempt to connect using Beyond Compare. Upon connecting to the server it provides a username and password dialogue.

I've set the profile up as follows (these profile settings are identical to a working OSX Beyond Compare installation):
Protocol: SFTP (SSH2)
Host: example-sub-domain.example-domain.co.uk [this is a fictional example]
Port: 22
Username: user [this is a fictional example]
Password: [empty]
Save password: [unchecked]
SSH private key file: /home/user/.ssh/id-user [this is a fictional example]

Beyond Compare is logging the following error:
07/02/17 2:07:39 pm Connection closed.
07/02/17 2:07:39 pm Connection failed: Connection lost (error code is 115)
07/02/17 2:07:40 pm Connecting to example-sub-domain.example-domain.co.uk
07/02/17 2:07:40 pm Server key [DSS 1024 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX]
07/02/17 2:07:41 pm Invalid version

Beyond Compare 64-bit Edition Version 4.1.9 (build 21719)
OpenSSH_7.2p2, OpenSSL 1.0.2j-fips 26 Sep 2016
openSUSE Leap 42.2 (x86_64)

[Aaron]

Hello,

What command line did you use to generate the key with this options/parameters? Example:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

The error you are hitting is an attempt to use the key, which, if it fails will then prompt for a password as a fallback authentication option if available.

If you run ssh-add are there any keys in queue for adding on your system?
If you regenerate a new key, does this new key work with BC4? To help determine if there's something specific about this key that we're having trouble with.

I generated a new key myself for the test system, ran into similar errors but found that the ssh-agent was already running in a bad state. This forum thread helped me get things running with the terminal's ssh command, after which my key worked in that test machine and any others I tested.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/76254...used-operation