I can SSH into remote server just fine using private key authentication with prompt for passphrase. However I'm getting permission denied when I try to SCP a file using the same passphrase. Here's my output: $ scp -v [file] [user]@[remoteserver.com]:/home/[my dir] Executing: program /usr/bin/ssh host [remoteserver.com], user [user], command scp -v -t /home/[my dir] OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7, OpenSSL 0.9.8k 25 Mar 2009 debug1: Reading configuration data /home/[my dir].ssh/config debug1: Applying options for [remoteserver.com] debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config debug1: Applying options for * debug1: Connecting to [remoteserver.com] [[remoteserver.com]] port 22. debug1: Connection established. debug1: identity file /home/[user]/.ssh/aws_corp type -1 debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7 debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7 pat OpenSSH* debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0 debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.3p1 Debian-3ubuntu7 debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REQUEST(1024<1024<8192) sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_GROUP debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_INIT sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_DH_GEX_REPLY debug1: Host '[remoteserver.com]' is known and matches the RSA host key. debug1: Found key in /home/[my dir]/.ssh/known_hosts:12 debug1: ssh_rsa_verify: signature correct debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Trying private key: /home/[my dir]/.ssh/aws_corp debug1: PEM_read_PrivateKey failed debug1: read PEM private key done: type <unknown> Enter passphrase for key '/home/[my dir]/.ssh/aws_corp': debug1: read PEM private key done: type RSA Connection closed by [remote server] lost connection I've searched for answers but can't find quite the same problem or am just being thick. Either way any help is much appreciated. Cheers!