[Answering my own question after better searching]
Same question asked and answered in the thread starting
https://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2016-06/msg00400.html.
The answer is to set db_home in nsswitch.conf.
Comment: the current behavior strikes me as unfortunate and surprising.
________________________________________
From: Boylan, Ross
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2019 11:15:47 AM
To: cygwin@cygwin.com
Subject: ssh confused about home directory?
I recently installed cygwin on Win 10, both 64 bit.
When I run ssh in a cygwin shell it complains
Could not create directory '/home/rdboylan/.ssh'.
The /home directory is empty--that is, it has no rdboylan subdirectory.
My home directory appears to be /cygdrive/c/Users/rdboylan; that is the value
of $HOME and where I end up when I do cd.
As far as I can tell from the docs, having c:/Users/rdboylan as home is fine,
but ssh doesn't seem to be respecting it.
/etc/nsswitch.conf has no uncommented lines and /etc/passwd does not exist
(both being ways to define the home directory on cygwin according to the
internet).
In a Windows Command Prompt %HOME% is C:\Users\rdboylan
What's the most appropriate way to fix this problem?
Thanks.
Ross
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