When launching CentOS Stream for aarch64 in us-east-1 using the CentOS-sponsored AMI (ami-0a311be1169cd6581, found at https://wiki.centos.org/Cloud/AWS) I am able to launch the EC2 instance using a Gravitron2 processor, as expected. However, when attempting to login to that instance, I get a password prompt for the ec2-user, centos, and root users.

This behavior is not expected, because on the x86_64 AMIs the centos user is configured to use the SSH key selected in the AWS EC2 Launch Wizard, and a SSH login password is not required.

In the aarch64 AMI, the centos and root usernames all prompt for password, and never seem to consider the provided SSH key.

This is the SSH command that I am using:

ssh -i ssh_key_selected_at_launch.pem centos@<the_public_ip>

This command results in a password prompt.

What is the process for connecting to the CentOS Stream AMI spun for aarch64?

Thank you!

David Lemcoe Jr.