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When I go to my terminals and use $ cd ~/.ssh I am able to enter the directory, which proves it exists. However, when I use any other file browser, I cannot find the .ssh folder!

Why is this happening?? I desperately need to access the .ssh perhaps it is invisible? Can anyone help me

(Ubuntu 14.04)

nvrpicurnose
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2 Answers2

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Any files or directories which start with dot are hidden. They cannot be seen from file browser. Open you terminal and 

ls -a

now you will see your .ssh directory listed. make sure you are using ls -a command in the right home directory. If you able to cd ~ssh from one user then use ls -a command in the that user's home directory.

If you really want to see the files in the file browser then create a directory without starting with a dot and copy all the contents from the .ssh directory to the new directory which you have created.

sudo mkdir /home/user_name/sshfolder
sudo cp /home/user_name/.ssh/* /home/user_name/sshfolder/

Now open you file system browser and verify the contents. I hope this is helpful.

Srimanth
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    File managers usually have an option to turn on/off display of hidden files and folders. Copying files around just to show them is not a good practice. – mata Mar 21 '15 at 10:09
  • WOW ok this makes sense. I was using terminal as a workaround but now I know what the issue is. thank you! – nvrpicurnose Mar 21 '15 at 17:37
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By convention, files starting with . are hidden. You can see them on the command line with ls -a or ls -A, or in your file manager by finding the setting that allows you to see "hidden" files (ctrl + h).

Patryk
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Kevin
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