🔑How to Connect via SSH (Windows & Mac)

Introduction

SSH is how you talk to your VPS. On Mac and Linux, it's built in. On Windows 10+, it's built in too.

What You'll Need

• Your VPS IP address (from the welcome email)
• Your root password (from the welcome email)
• A terminal app

Connect From Mac or Linux

1. 1Open Terminal
2. 2Run:

   ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

1. 1Type yes if asked about the fingerprint
2. 2Paste the password (it won't show as you type, that's normal)
3. 3Press Enter

You should see something like root@hostname:~#, you're in.

Connect From Windows

• Option A, built-in: Open PowerShell and run the same ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP command
• Option B, PuTTY: Download PuTTY, put the IP in Host Name, click Open

Move to Key-Based Login (Recommended)

1. 1On your machine, run ssh-keygen -t ed25519
2. 2Press Enter through the prompts
3. 3Copy your public key to the server:

   ssh-copy-id root@YOUR_VPS_IP

1. 1Test: ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP, no password prompt now
2. 2Disable password login in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

   PasswordAuthentication no

1. 1Reload SSH: systemctl reload sshd

Tip: Use the SSH config file (~/.ssh/config) to alias your servers, type ssh myvps instead of the full IP.

Warning: Before you disable password login, test that your key works from a second terminal. Locking yourself out is a recoverable but annoying mistake.

Need More Help?

Connection refused? Hop into Discord, we can check firewall rules.