Imager ignores all custom config for Raspberry Pi OS Lite (w/o desktop env) but doesn’t indicate it: wifi if locked, so no SSH as well. Logging in over UART also fails, because it doesn’t create your user and the default pi user is locked.
This should be in the docs. It isn’t.
Very. Frustrating.
@i Maybe consider filing an issue with them:
@i Or comment on this one, which sounds like it's at least similar:
@i Yes, but one of those comments mentions that they had the problem with 2.0.3, and tried 2.0.2 and it worked. So it's a bug that was introduced in that specific version. Maybe try the older version?
That piece of information about versions will hopefully lead to someone eventually fixing it.
@rayk that was also my first thought. I first tried the official app image, which I quickly abandoned (requires root) and moved to the version on Fedora repository.
In any case, if this is really a software regression, it is very surprising that it wasn’t caught by the tests.
پویان Pouyan 
Ray Kelm