I've been using CopSSH (that uses OpenSSH and Cygwin, so I don't know which of the three is the problem) as my SSH server application at home on Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit. I have used it for about a year with no real problems, other than it sometimes takes 2 or 3 connection attempts to get through, but it's always worked within a few attempts.

A few days ago, it just stopped working. The Windows service is still running, and I've rebooted, restarted the service, etc. with no change. On the client (using Putty on Windows), I get the message "Software caused connection abort". On the server, my event viewer registers the following:

fatal: Write failed: Socket operation on non-socket

I finally got it working, but only by executing sshd.exe directly from the command line on the server. No special flags or options, just straight execution, and then when I connect remotely, it goes through.

I do have firewall and anti-virus software which appears to be configured properly, but the fact that things work when running sshd.exe also indicates that the firewall is fine.

I thought the service and executable did exactly the same thing, but apparently there's some difference. Does anyone have any ideas on where I should look for the problem?

If I can't find something, I suppose I can write a Windows service or scheduled task that fires off sshd.exe directly and ensures that it stays running, but that's kind of a last resort, since it's just wrapping around something that should already work.

I appreciate your help.