How do I force SSH to use password, not rsa key?

Question

I set up an SSH key and changed my username in keeping with some best practices, having previously lost a pi installation after it was likely compromised via bruteforce. Unfortunately, it appears I also set up a password for my local SSH key, as I get the prompt Enter your password for the SSH key "id_rsa". I've tried the passwords I could think of, and none work (`Permission denied (public key) error in Terminal).

I know I have saved the password I used when I first set up my modified user, so I tried this answer to ignore the key and use password instead. I got the same error from Terminal. How do I force key ignore and use password instead?

• aastefanov: Have you removed the permission to use password authentication (PasswordAuthentication no`) from the ssh server configuration?
• user3.1415927: No, I currently can't access the pi via SSH - it's running headless in the office. Do I need to disable that? ... and so I'd guess that's a plug-in-kvm situation?
• aastefanov: you need to enable password authentication (if disasbled, the only possible way may be to plug the SD Card in a Linux machine or a Windows with ext2fsd driver and edit the file)
• user3.1415927: So the headless -> headed option wouldn't do it? I thought that I could startx and go from there...
• aastefanov: If you have a keyboard and a monitor, you could edit the file via sudo too.

Answer 1

In the article, one of the things mentioned is disabling password login:

PasswordAuthentication no

Commenting the line or changing the value to yes permits password login again.

• goldilocks: An explanation of all the options can be found in man sshd_config, BTW.