Question: After reading many pages of documentation and articles on [how to telnet](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/72116/freebsd-telnet-does-not-take-root-login) or SSH into FreeBSD as root, none have given me a solution that actually works. I am looking for a how-to-remote-into this FreeBSD in less than 10 easy steps.

Current state

* I am running Windows7 on host machine, subnet `192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0`
* can ping the FreeBSD 8.1 host (running on WMWare) at `192.168.1.145`.
* edited `/etc/inetd.conf`, `/etc/rc.conf`. sshd\_enable="YES"
* any attempt to telnet via PutTy to `192.168.1.145` return "connection refused"
* `/etc/rc.d/sshd status` returns **`sshd is not runnin0`**. what needs to be done to run it?

At the moment I'll take whichever method is easier secure or not. No [RTFM](http://meta.serverfault.com/search?q=rtfm) answers please.

Answer: 
1. Undo whatever you did to `inetd.conf`.
2. Edit `/etc/ssh/sshd_config`, add `PermitRootLogin yes`
3. run `/etc/rc.d/sshd start`

Telnet doesn't work on ssh. You have to connect via ssh in PuTTY.

If you have a firewall up, you'll need to punch a hole.

Security Note: #2 is a **really** terrible idea. You should either:

* add your user to the wheel group so they can `su` to root (`pw groupmod -n wheel -m your-user`)
* install sudo (easiest is `pkg_add -r sudo`).
Enable SSH

```
vi /etc/rc.conf
sshd_enable="YES"

```

Start the SSH service

```
/etc/rc.d/sshd start

```

Chech the status

```
/etc/rc.d/sshd onestatus

```