"Failed to load HostKeys" warning while connecting to SFTP server with pysftp
paramiko, pysftp, python, python-3.x, ssh
Solution
I believe it's a bug in pysftp. You get this everytime you use `cnopts.hostkeys = None` (despite the warning actually suggesting to use that).
Anyway, you should not use `cnopts.hostkeys = None`, you lose security by doing so. For the correct solution, see Verify host key with pysftp.
By your reference to key authentication, I assume you mistake your account key with host key. Read my article about SSH key pairs to understand the difference.
Problem
I wrote a Python script to connect to SFTP server using key authentication. It connects to server successfully but shows the following warning (see below). What does it mean and how to remove it. What changes has to made in code? My code: ``` import os import pysftp import socket import paramiko import time import os.path import shutil IP = "127.0.X.X" myUsername = "USERNAME" port = 22 cnopts = pysftp.CnOpts() cnopts.hostkeys = None import os privatekeyfile = os.path.expanduser("C:\\Users\\Rohan\\.ssh\\cool.prv") mykey = paramiko.RSAKey.from_private_key_file(privatekeyfile) try: with pysftp.Connection(host=IP, username=myUsername,private_key=mykey,cnopts=cnopts) as sftp: try: r=str(socket.gethostbyaddr(IP)) print("connection successful with "+r) except socket.herror: print("Unknown host") except: print("connection failed") ``` Warning: ``` UserWarning: Failed to load HostKeys from C:\Users\Rohan\.ssh\known_hosts. You will need to explicitly load HostKeys (cnopts.hostkeys.load(filename)) or disableHostKey checking (cnopts.hostkeys = None). warnings.warn(wmsg, UserWarning) ```