Fixing the WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED error
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Updated at December 17, 2025
Issue description
When attempting to connect over SSH, you get the WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED error.
Solution
You need to verify that you are connecting to the correct server, and then delete the record pointing to the server IP address from the known_hosts file:
ssh-keygen -f C:\User\Username/.ssh/known_hosts -R "00.000.00.000"
Following these steps, you can reconnect to the VM with the 00.000.00.000 static IP address.
Note
This error may occur if you previously created a VM, deleted it, and then created a new VM with the same static IP address. This protects the SSH connection against man-in-the-middle attacks and communication channel compromise.