Lost access to your server: reset the root password and use the web console

Losing access to a server feels worse than it is. In almost every case you can get back in yourself in a few minutes, and without losing anything. Find your situation first:

1. Reset the root password

In the dashboard, open the server, go to the Management tab and click Reset root password. Type the server's hostname to confirm, because the old password stops working at once.

What happens next:

1. a new 16-character password (letters and digits) is generated;
2. it's set inside the running server, without a reboot, and works within 10–30 seconds;
3. it's emailed to you and shown once in the Access panel on the server page, behind Reveal root password.

There's no copy button for the password, so select it by hand and save it somewhere safe. Don't press reset twice in a row: two resets seconds apart can race each other and leave the older password active.

On a Windows server the same button resets the Administrator password.

Over the API, confirm with the hostname:

curl -X POST https://api.eqvps.com/api/v1/eqvps/services/SERVICE_ID/reset-password \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EQVPS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"confirm": "your-hostname"}'

Then fetch the password once with GET /services/SERVICE_ID?reveal=1. AI agents connected through MCP have the same thing as the reset_password tool.

The reset needs the server to be running and booted. If it's stopped, start it first.

2. Open the web console

The Console button on the server page opens a browser window with the server's own screen. It doesn't use the network or SSH at all, so it works when both are broken.

• Linux servers get a text console with a login prompt. Press Enter if the screen is empty, then log in as root with your password. Paste works with Ctrl+V or a right-click.
• Windows servers get a graphical console with a Ctrl+Alt+Del button for the login screen.

If nothing opens, your browser blocked the pop-up: allow pop-ups for eqvps.com and click Console again. The console starts at 80×24; for full-screen programs run:

stty rows 50 cols 200

3. Fix the cause from the console

Once you're logged in, these are the four lockouts we see most.

A firewall rule blocks SSH. On a NAT server, the SSH port shown in the dashboard is forwarded to port 22 inside the server, so a rule for the external port doesn't help. Allow SSH itself:

ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw status

A broken SSH config. Test it, then restart:

sshd -t && systemctl restart ssh

sshd -t prints the line that's wrong if the config doesn't parse.

A lost SSH key. Add your new public key:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
echo "ssh-ed25519 AAAA...your-new-key you@laptop" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

A full disk. Logins can fail when the disk has no space left. Check and clear old logs:

df -h /
journalctl --vacuum-size=200M

4. If the server doesn't boot

The console shows the boot messages, which usually name the problem: a filesystem check waiting for input, a wrong line in /etc/fstab, a kernel that won't start. Try a normal reboot from the dashboard first.

Two warnings. Give a brand-new server a minute or two after it's created before rebooting it: interrupting the very first boot can leave it half-configured. And don't hard-stop a server again and again; a clean reboot is safer.

If nothing helps, Reinstall OS in the Management tab rebuilds the server with the same IP address, but erases all data. Make a backup first if you still can, or open a ticket before you reinstall. Backups are covered in Backups.

Related

• Set up SSH key login, so you don't depend on a password.
• Network & ports: how NAT forwarding works and which ports are open.
• Changing the address instead? Changing your IP address.