FIX:- PRNG is not seeded

Published: May 18th, 2012 Category: Linux Tips

sh-3.1# /etc/init.d/ssh restart
PRNG is not seeded
sh-3.1#

sh-3.1# ls -al /dev/random
/bin/ls: /dev/random: No such file or directory
sh-3.1# ls -al /dev/urandom
/bin/ls: /dev/urandom: No such file or directory

sh-3.1# mknod /dev/random c 1 9
sh-3.1# mknod /dev/urandom c 1 9

4 Responses to “FIX:- PRNG is not seeded”

1. 
   Qmail says “PRNG not seeded” when sending mail to certain servers
   on Nov 26th, 2010
   @ 5:24 pm: 

   [...] http://eitwebguru.com/fix-prng-is-not-seeded/ June 27, 2010 3:39 am Eric3 Both devices already existed, but by deleting and then re-adding them the problem went away. June 30, 2010 2:52 am David Spillett As well as making sure that the relevant devices exist (as per David Smith’s answer) you need to make sure there is actually some entropy in the pool. [...]

2. 
   marcelo
   on Jan 26th, 2011
   @ 2:44 am: 

   Hi there, I had the same exact problem and after trying your solution the PRNG issue has gone, but the sshd service is still down.

   [root /]# etc/init.d/sshd restart
   Stopping sshd:[FAILED]
   Starting sshd:[ OK ]
   [root /]# service sshd status
   sshd dead but subsys locked

   any idea?

3. 
   marcelo
   on Jan 26th, 2011
   @ 3:27 am: 

   I found the solution, may be helpful for others.
   To unlock the issue just run:

   rm -rf /dev/null
   mknod -m 666 /dev/null c 1 3

   then restart sshd and try to login as root. If you obtain a message saying “Server refused to allocate pty”, then run:

   /sbin/MAKEDEV pty
   /sbin/MAKEDEV tty

   and restart sshd. This should do the trick ;)

4. 
   Milind
   on Jan 29th, 2011
   @ 8:46 am: 

   Thanks for the fix Marcelo :)