Skip to content

How to connect to a VPS over SSH

Connect to your server with a password or a key from Linux, macOS and Windows, create a key and disable password login.

Updated: 2026-11-07 · 2 min read

After payment you receive the server's IP address and the root password by email. If you added an SSH key to your order, you don't need the password — the server already trusts your key.

Connecting from Linux and macOS

Open a terminal and run:

ssh root@203.0.113.24

On the first connection SSH asks whether you trust the server — type yes. Then enter the password from the email (characters aren't shown while typing, that's normal).

Connecting from Windows

Windows 10 and 11 have a built-in SSH client. Open PowerShell or Terminal and run the same ssh root@IP command. You can also use PuTTY: enter the IP as Host Name, port 22, connection type SSH.

Create a key and log in without a password

Key-based login is safer and more convenient than a password. Create a key on your computer:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@company.kz"

The key is saved to ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (the private part, never share it) and ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (the public part). Copy the public part to the server:

ssh-copy-id root@203.0.113.24

On Windows without ssh-copy-id, run:

type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | ssh root@203.0.113.24 "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Now ssh root@203.0.113.24 lets you in without a password.

Create a separate user

Working as root all the time isn't a good idea. Create a user with sudo rights:

adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy        # on AlmaLinux and Rocky: usermod -aG wheel deploy
rsync --archive --chown=deploy:deploy ~/.ssh /home/deploy

Disable password login

Once key login works, turn off passwords — this protects the server from password guessing. Open /etc/ssh/sshd_config and set:

PasswordAuthentication no
PermitRootLogin prohibit-password

Restart SSH without closing your current session and test logging in from a new window:

systemctl restart ssh      # on AlmaLinux and Rocky: systemctl restart sshd

If you can't connect

  • Connection refused — the server is still booting or SSH is stopped. Wait a couple of minutes.
  • Permission denied — wrong password or key. Check your keyboard layout.
  • Connection timed out — port 22 is blocked by a firewall.

If you've lost access, message support in Telegram and we'll help you get back in.