VPS

Connect to your VPS

How to log in to your VPS for the first time: over SSH, with Remote Desktop if you chose a system with a desktop, or through the console in your browser.

Find your login details #

  1. Open your VPS in the Portal.
  2. Go to the Login details tab.

Your login details appear there a minute or two after the VPS is paid for. The tab shows the user name, the root password (hidden until you show it) and an SSH command ready to copy. Your IP address is at the top of the page.

Important

Keep these private. Anyone with the root password can do anything on your server.

Log in over SSH #

SSH is the way in for every VPS. You type commands, and they run on the server.

  1. On the Login details tab, press Copy next to the SSH command. It looks like this:

    ssh [email protected]

  2. Open a terminal: PowerShell on Windows, Terminal on a Mac or Linux.

  3. Paste the command and press Enter.

  4. The first time, you are asked whether you trust the server. Type yes and press Enter.

  5. Paste the root password and press Enter. Nothing shows while you type or paste it; that is normal.

You are in when the prompt ends in #, for example root@my-server:~#.

Next, follow first steps on a new Linux VPS to update it, add your own user and turn on the firewall.

Log in with Remote Desktop #

If you chose Ubuntu 24.04 with desktop, you can also see and use its desktop.

  1. On Windows, open Remote Desktop Connection. On a Mac, install Windows App from the App Store.
  2. Enter your VPS's IP address.
  3. Sign in with the user name and password from Login details.

The first time you connect, Remote Desktop warns that it can't verify the server's certificate. That is expected for a new VPS: tick the box to not ask again for this computer, and connect. If the warning comes back later for the same VPS, and you haven't reinstalled it, don't connect, especially on public Wi-Fi.

SSH works on this system too.

Use the console in your browser #

The console shows your server's screen and lets you type on it, without SSH. Use it when SSH does not answer, for example after a firewall change that shut you out.

  1. Make sure the VPS is running.
  2. Press Console at the top of its page. It opens in a new tab.
  3. Confirm with your account password (and your two-factor code, if you use one).
  4. Click the screen to type. If it is blank, press Enter.

Log in with the user name and root password from Login details.

Button What it does
Paste text… Types text into the server one key at a time, exactly as written. A new line presses Enter.
Ctrl+Alt+Del Sends Ctrl+Alt+Del, which your own computer would otherwise catch.
Reconnect Shows when the connection drops. Press it to open the console again.

Tip

Pasting a password into the console with Paste text… avoids typing mistakes on a long password.

Lost the root password? #

Change it from the Portal. See change the root password.

Still can't get in? #

See troubleshooting, or open a support ticket with your VPS's IP address and what you see.