# Unable to install Chef-server

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [June 30, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826 "2016-06-30T15:56:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![phanikumar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@phanikumar](https://discourse.chef.io/u/phanikumar)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/1 "2016-06-30T15:56:02Z")

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I am trying to install chef server on RHEL 7.1 and I am getting an issue

**ERROR: Your private key could not be loaded from /etc/opscode/pivotal.pem**  
**Check your configuration file and ensure that your private key is readable**

when I am trying to create a user for the chef-server and the file **pivotal.pem** is not present in that path.

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**Author:** ![manishmehra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/manishmehra/32/1484_2.png) [@manishmehra](https://discourse.chef.io/u/manishmehra)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/2 "2016-06-30T16:04:58Z")

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I am not an expert.  
Have you tried giving read permission to the pem file? Try executing “sudo chmod 644 /etc/opscode/pivotal.pem”

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**Author:** ![phanikumar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@phanikumar](https://discourse.chef.io/u/phanikumar)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/3 "2016-07-01T16:07:34Z")

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pivotal.pem file is not available in that path to change permissions.

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**Author:** ![manishmehra](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/manishmehra/32/1484_2.png) [@manishmehra](https://discourse.chef.io/u/manishmehra)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 6:06am UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/4 "2016-07-02T06:06:12Z")

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Are you running “rpm -Uvh chef-server-core-x.x.x.rpm” as sudo user?  
You might not have write permissions on /etc/opscode folder. Try running “sudo chmod 666 /etc/opscode”

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**Author:** ![marcparadise](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.chef.io/marcparadise/32/1603_2.png) [@marcparadise](https://discourse.chef.io/u/marcparadise)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/5 "2016-07-02T17:27:41Z")

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> ERROR: Your private key could not be loaded from /etc/opscode/pivotal.pem  
> Check your configuration file and ensure that your private key is readable
> 
> when I am trying to create a user for the chef-server and the file  
> pivotal.pem is not present in that path.

Are you using chef-server-ctl add-user, or trying to use knife directly?

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**Author:** ![phanikumar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@phanikumar](https://discourse.chef.io/u/phanikumar)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:17pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/6 "2016-07-03T12:17:53Z")

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Hi Manish,  
Thanks for your response, I am running rpm -UVH chef-server-core-x.x.x.rpm as root user. I am not sure but my question is chef itself creates the folder opscode and I found proper permissions to the folder.

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**Author:** ![phanikumar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@phanikumar](https://discourse.chef.io/u/phanikumar)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 12:18pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/unable-to-install-chef-server/8826/7 "2016-07-03T12:18:31Z")

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I am trying to create user using the chef-server-ctl command.