How to enable SSH root login on Alpine Linux

Note: Be aware that enabling root access via SSH has security implications!

On Alpine Linux, root SSH access using passwords is disabled by default. The following tutorial shows you how to enable password-based root login via SSH when using openssh. (I have not tested whether root access is enabled when installing Alpine Linux using dropbear instead of openssh)

First, open the SSH config file using

vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Now look for this line:

#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password

Press I in order to activate vi editing mode.

Remove the # at the beginning of the line and change prohibit-password to yes:

PermitRootLogin yes

Now save and exit by pressing Esc and then pressing :wq and Enter.

After that, restart openssh using

service sshd restart

Now you can login as root using the password.