FYI : I just flashed a new ASL3 image to a USB stick with "pi" + "raspberry" and powered up an RPI4. After a short few minutes I tried to ssh to the system and see the following :
...
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== =====
NOTE: THIS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY PERFORMING INITIAL
PACKAGE UPDATES, SETUP, AND CONFIGURATION.
WHEN COMPLETE, THE SYSTEM WILL REBOOT.
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== =====
Web console: https://wa3wco-rpi4:9090/ or https://10.0.1.243:9090/
Last login: Mon Jun 8 15:06:41 2026 from 2601:5c2:200:47:1c7d:af74:361b:dbc6
This account is currently not available.
My ssh session was closed after the last line of output. I'm going to keep waiting for the initial / first boot to complete before commenting more ... but know that the initial upgrades take a while.
Allan, this is completely consistent with the results i have... that last message, indicating the account is not available occurs after 30 mins of letting things settle down.
if i choose a diff login/acct other than "pi" it works fine...
immediately after that message, the ssh session closed. some ssh clients wont show the motd stuff before the session closure. what did u use to capture the above ?
i am now running the asl3/trixie https://rpi.allstarlink.org/latest.json custom URL with "alfred" as a username/acct id and all is well after over 90 mins, i can open/close ssh as normal, no issue. I am just going to go forward with my objective and just stay away from the uname "pi" for now. was just used to using it for rpi work forever :-))
Here's an update. After walking away from my RPi4 for over an hour I came back and still was not able to login/ssh to the system ... so, yes, I repro'd the problem. I have since powered down the RPi and set the USB flash drive aside for later when I will poke around for clues as to "why".
In my head, this feels like a package upgrade issue and the RPi images are a bit "old". With the latest ASL packages having been promoted just a few days ago, since there have been many Debian/Trixie updates since the images were last created, and because the latest appears to be stable I took a bit of time to build a fresh image. I have since flashed this new image and successfully ssh'd into the new system with :
allan% ssh -l pi wa3wco-rpi4.local
pi@wa3wco-rpi4.local's password:
Linux wa3wco-rpi4 6.18.33+rpt-rpi-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 1:6.18.33-1+rpt1 (2026-06-01) aarch64
Welcome to AllStarLink v3
...
SSH is enabled and the default password for the 'pi' user has not been changed.
This is a security risk - please login as the 'pi' user and type 'passwd' to set a new password.
and, yes, this image was setup with a "pi" + "raspberry" login
For those reading / following I will share a bit of insight into the ASL Raspberry Pi Appliance images. We start off with a snapshot of Debian Linux. Then, we add the ASL packages to the image and a few small scripts that are exec'd when the system first boots. The Raspberry Pi Imager application downloads the image, writes it to your SD card (or USB flash drive), and adds information based on the customisation settings you entered to the app. When you boot your RPi the image is expanded, the customisations are applied, and our scripts are exec'd. One of the last steps performed by our scripts is to ensure that you have all of the latest OS (Trixie) updates and all of the latest ASL updates. How much time is needed for "update/upgrade" process depends on when our ASL image was created and when any of the OS/ASL updates are released. As days/weeks pass there are more and more packages that need to be updated. But, once complete, you should have a new, clean, and up-to-date system.
Note: those who started off with an older ASL "image" do not need to perform a fresh install to get the latest updates. All you need to do is follow the update/upgrade instructions @ ASL Manual : Updating ASL3.
Im glad you were able to reproduce the issue. sounds like you already have a fix in mind.
for now, i'll just stay away from the username pi, as any other seems to work, and it really doesnt matter to me what it was, just that i have gotten used to pi for all my rpi projects.
at least you have confirmed i'm not nuts ! :-))
tnx for the assistance and testing/verification time to reproduce the problem.
maybe some sort of temporary note in the install instructions for the time being to stay away from pi acct/login name for now can help others from going down the same rathole i did.
i guess let us know when its fixed in the appliance image repo (not sure thats the right terminology). if i can be of any help let me know, but i'm a newbie to ASL3 so not sure i can help much.
No temporary note is needed as the new/refreshed ASL "image" does not exhibit the same issue with the "pi" user. Also, the RPi installs should (at least for a time) be a bit shorter as there are fewer packages that need to be upgraded on first boot.
The user 'pi' was blocked from SSH logins from the Raspbian Trixie image for historical security reasons. Perhaps they removed the block finally? But that's not ASL issue.
i'll just avoid the issue entirely, and from now on, choose my own unique login and stay away from "pi" just in case this restriction makes it's way back into the "codebase", wherever it is. if you followed the thread, base trixie install (w/o ASL) works fine with "pi". the ASL appliance did not (until allan fixed something).
you guys can decide what and how it should be addressed. I'll just avoid it... it was probably bad practice anyway, just that i got used to using that acct id for all my little pi projects.
but this constraint should be noted then in the installation instructions so that others dont get caught up in it and waste their time, precisely because it was a historical norm for Rpi projects.
