Commandline giving E170013 error on most PCs

[tsuc...@googlemail.com]

One of our group's PCs is happy to run at commandline.  For example:

• We CD to the directory of a repository, and enter 'svn update'. 
• It quickly updates.

On 4 other Windows 10 64-bit machines we tried, we tried the same process.  It first says:

Updating '.':

Then after about 20 seconds it gives these errors:

svn: E170013: Unable to connect to a repository at URL 'svn+ssh://a...@def.com/subversion/rep_name'
svn: E210002: To better debug SSH connection problems, remove the -q option from 'ssh' in the [tunnels] section of your Subversion configuration file.
svn: E210002: Network connection closed unexpectedly

The strangest thing is the machine that works:

• We're connecting with svn+ssh:// on port 22222.
• PuTTY knows about port 22222, and TortoiseSVN uses PuTTY to connect.  (At least, Windows version does.)
• But even when we tried renamng the PuTTY executable file and removing open instance from memory, command line still works unabated.
• I wonder how it knows.
• Perhaps even stranger: the machine that does connect runs PuTTY Portable.
  

Anyway, we exhausted all our ideas to troubleshoot:

• That '-q' option in [tunnels] section of Subversion config file: that line was commented-out... we un-commented and then removed -q.  Then nothing worked.  Not even Windows.  "Unable to connect to a repository at URL".
• A colleague thought it could be something to do with ipv6, but we don't even have ipv6 configured in DNS.
• The working PC had  an 'SSH client'  (TortoisePlink.exe) referenced under Network > SSH > SSH client.  We tried replicating that, even rebooting afterwards, but no luck.
• Somebody online suggested clearing authentication data; but there is nothing to clear: buttons are greyed-out.

Has anybody solved this problem before, or got any ideas?  Thanks for any help.

- Andi

[tsuc...@googlemail.com]

Ok, for anybody who needs it, we found a solution that worked for us.  It's a solution for Users connecting with svn+ssh://

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Choose 'This PC'  (or 'My Computer', or whatever you have on your version of Windows)

3. Go to 'System Properties' (or 'System Protection' or 'Advanced System Settings' or similar, as you find).

4. You should get an old-fashioned "System Properties" dialogue with various tabs.  Choose 'Advanced' tab.

5. Click 'Environment Variables'.

6. The Environment Variables window has a top and bottom part.  Click 'New' in the bottom ('System variables') part.

7. The 'New System Variable' dialogue has two input boxes.  In 'Variable name', type 'SVN_SSH' (no apostrophes)

8. Then click 'Browse File', and go find the directory with your PuTTY files, and select 'plink.exe'.

9. Then click OK, OK, OK, and you should be fixed.

Now open a new terminal window (must be a new one after setting that variable, CD to a directory with an SVN repo, and enter 'svn update' (for example).  That command should now work.  (Or you get to your next problem to solve.)

[tsuc...@googlemail.com]

Erratum:

My colleague reminded me:

8a. Edit the file you selected, and escape the backslashes separating directories, with another backslash.  So for example, you may have 'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\PuTTY\\plink.exe' (no apostrophes)