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Change SSH Welcome Banner on Ubuntu

Every time I connect to my Ubuntu development server through my ssh client, I receive the same message and I'm getting tired of seeing it, so I decided to change the message to something else.

Here's the message that I get every time:

Linux superfast 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Thu Jun 7 19:00:28 UTC 2007 x86_64

The programs included with the Ubuntu system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Ubuntu comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by
applicable law.

Last login: Mon Aug 13 01:05:46 2007 from ipaddress removed

geek@superfast:~$

Changing this message requires editing two different files. The first three sections can be modified by editing the following file:

/etc/motd

This file contains the linux build number as well as the Ubuntu warranty message. I don't find this particularly useful, so I removed all of it and replaced it with my own message.

To disable the last login message (which I don't recommend doing), you will need to edit the following file in sudo mode:

/etc/ssh/sshd_config

Find this line in the file and change the yes to no as shown:

PrintLastLog no

Now when you login, you'll get a blank prompt, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it because it's useful to see the last login to the system for security reasons. This is my prompt now:

This is a superfast system. Please max out the cpu accordingly.

Last login: Mon Aug 13 01:24:14 2007 from ipaddress removed
geek@superfast:~$

Linux is really great.

The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 08/12/07 and tagged with: Ubuntu

Comments (5)

  1. Sebastian

    Nice HowTo and I agree: Linux rocks. :-)

    But if you want to avoid /etc/motd to be overwritten with the old version upon reboot you also have to edit /etc/default/rcS.

    Look for

    # Set EDITMOTD to “no” if you don’t want /etc/motd to be regenerated
    # automatically
    EDITMOTD=yes

    and change "yes" to "no" before editing /etc/motd

    Cheers
    Sebastian

  2. Kamahl

    My motd keeps resetting itself… I believe it might be the updates. Is there any way of locking the file after I've edited it?

  3. Sebastian

    If you are using Ubuntu, try editing /etc/motd.tail
    That will do the trick.

  4. Benny

    can i remove the "Last login: message?

  5. Dave

    Along the same lines you can uncomment the Banner /etc/issue.net line in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. Then put your message in /etc/issue.net and it'll be displayed before you put in your password.


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