With the September ISO it is not possible to login over SSH with user root during installation without additional changes in the sshd_config file. Normally I boot archiso, load the keymaps, change root password (so it is not empty), and start sshd daemon. But you will not be able to login from another pc (in my case desktop pc for easier installation) and journalctl does show this: archiso sshd[691]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=10.X.X.126 user=root archiso sshd[691]: Failed password for root from 10.X.X.126 port 54253 ssh2 I solved this by editing the “/etc/ssh/sshd_config” file and adding this “PermitRootLogin yes”, and restarting sshd daemon. Was this changed with purpose or is it with the openssh included with September ISO now default option.