How-To Geek
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.
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Comments (22)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 08/12/07
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
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?
If you are using Ubuntu, try editing /etc/motd.tail
That will do the trick.
can i remove the “Last login: message?
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.
If your banner keeps resetting itself, you need to keep in mind that /etc/motd is only a link to the /var/run/motd file. Edit that file to make the banner changes permanent.
To remove the “Last login” message, edit your /etc/ssh/sshd_config file to change where it says:
PrintLastLog yes
to no, and you’re good to go.
Please take a look at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UpdateMotd
None of these work.
Stephen is right. None of these work. The following method worked for me in Ubuntu 10.04 and survived a reboot:
Backup existing motd file, which is a symlink:
sudo mv /etc/motd /etc/motd.bak
Using your favorite text editor, create and open a new motd file (/etc/motd), edit the file as desired, and save. For example:
sudo vi /etc/motd
After editing the file, restart SSHD:
sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart
Cheers,
Jeremy
Thank you, Jeremy! That’s the only solution that worked for me.
That might still not work.
To completely get rid of it use
sudo mv /etc/update-motd.d /etc/update-motd.d.bak
BE VERY CAUTIOUS USING THE LAST COMMAND
make sure you are in the /etc/update-motd.d directory
What this does is actually removing the scripts that generate the MOTD.
UBUNTU:
echo ” > /etc/motd.tail
or
mv /etc/motd.tail /etc/motd.tail.bak
i have “no mail.” in my login screen, can you tell me how to delete it?
What worked for me (on Ubuntu 10.10 Server) was editing /etc/update-motd.d/00-header to fit my needs, and a chmod -x 10-help-text to get rid of that part..
thanks wic
it worked fine for me !!
good job.
nico
To delete completely the message logon:
sudo mv /etc/update-motd.d /etc/update-motd.d.bak
sudo mv /var/run/motd /var/run/motd.bak
sudo touch /var/run/motd
sudo mv /etc/motd.tail /etc/motd.tail.bak
sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config (Change: PrintLastLog yes -> PrintLastLog no)
sudo vim /etc/init.d/ssh restart
that last line should probably be
sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart
(without “vim”)
just sayin’ =)
On Ubuntu 10.04, you can just:
sudo rm /etc/update-motd.d/00-header /etc/update-motd.d/10-help-text /etc/update-motd.d/99-footer
to get rid of the messages and keep the last login.
Here its one simple command that creates an empty hushlogin:
> ~/.hushlogin
DONE!!
For some reason on my Ubuntu 10.10 (server) I was not able to have the new files I made in /etc/update-motd.d appear in the MOTD, even with the proper execute permission. Instead I just modified one of the existing files.
@Vahid – you’ll need to be sure you structure the file correctly. The files should be scripts, so be sure to add #!/bin/sh and echo statements, etc.
See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH/OpenSSH/Configuring#Display_a_Banner