Does ping 192.168.55.2 from the desktop work? I'd revert to using IP addresses to try connecting since that avoids hostname complications. e.g. 'ssh 192.168.55.2'. Even if it fails you will get something more descriptive.
Also, on the laptop, what is the output of 'ps -A |grep ssh' on your laptop? I wonder if sshd died and needs to be restarted. Connection Refused can also occur if the daemon isn't running. -Ben On Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 at 11:12 AM, Rich Shepard <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, 10 Dec 2025, Ben Koenig wrote: > > > If this were a key or authorization issue you would get a different error. > > Connection refused is networking related. Either it can't find the host or > > is attempting to connect on the wrong port. > > > > Check .ssh/config and your /etc/hosts file for any lingering hostnames or > > ip addresses > > > Ben, > > From desktop's /etc/hosts: > 192.168.55.1 salmo.appl-ecosys.com salmo mail # older desktop > 192.168.55.2 caddis.appl-ecosys.com caddis # Lenovo ThinkPad T430 > > From desktop's .ssh/config: > Host appl-ecosys.com > HostName appl-ecosys.com > User rshepard > Port NNNNN > IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub > > Thanks, > > Rich
