Locked out? Reset your VPS password or SSH key

Lost your SSH key, or never had a password for the console? You can fix it yourself, without losing any files.

Reset access

1. Open Servers, choose your server, then the Reset access tab. The server must be running or shut down.
2. Check the user on the server. It is filled in for you; see which user name if it is not.
3. Enter a new password (at least 12 characters), an SSH key to add, or both. You can paste a key or pick one you saved on the SSH keys tab.
4. Tick the box to confirm and send it.

What happens next:

• Your server shuts down cleanly and starts our rescue system, with its own disk attached.
• The rescue system makes the change on that disk. The page shows the result, usually within a minute, and checks again by itself.
• You press Return to normal, and the server starts from its own disk again.

Your server is offline from the moment you start until you return it to normal, and it restarts twice along the way. If it uses SELinux, its first start relabels its files and restarts once more by itself, so allow a couple of extra minutes.

A new key is added; keys already on the server stay. A new password is for the console and for sudo; it does not let you log in over SSH, because cloud images refuse passwords there.

Rescue mode, to repair it by hand

If something stops your server starting at all (a bad line in /etc/fstab, a full disk, a broken network setting), use Start rescue mode on the Recovery tab.

1. Tick the box to confirm your server will be offline, and start it. It shuts down cleanly and starts our rescue system in about a minute.
2. You are shown a one-time root password. Copy it: it is only shown in the session that started rescue mode.
3. Open the Console and log in as root with that password.
4. Run vpsgb-mount-disk. Your server's files appear under /mnt/server.
5. Make your repair, then press Return to normal.

Reset access and rescue mode work on our ARM servers. If the page says they are not available for your server, get in touch and we will do it with you.

Saved SSH keys

The SSH keys tab keeps keys on your account so you can pick them when resetting access. Removing a key from that list does not remove it from servers that already have it; to do that, edit ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server.

Last updated 21 October 2026