.
I have tried changing the passwords, but the system will
not allow me to do so.
because 'user' has to satisfy 'rules' for passwords but root does not.
if you...
sudo 'su -'
and then type
passwd joe
you can enter anything you want for a password and not have to satisfy
rules.
Glad we got down to the exact details of the issue.
Joe, that's the process, much as it seems impersonal, and while you
thought your problem was SSH, which was what you were trying to do, it
actually was a bad password, which WAS the error message you got!
Linux is just like a good domestic or
