How to Reset Your VPS Password

You never need to open a ticket to reset a server password. The dashboard does it at the hypervisor level, so it works even if you are locked out of the operating system.

Reset in the dashboard

1. Log in at bearhost.com, open Services and click the server.
2. Click Reset password.
3. The new password is shown once and also saved behind Reveal password. Copy it somewhere safe.
4. Connect again: SSH as root on Linux, Remote Desktop as Administrator on Windows.

The reset does not reboot the server and does not touch your files.

Reveal versus reset

• Reveal password shows the password we currently have on record. If you changed the password yourself inside the OS, the revealed one is out of date; use Reset instead.
• Reset password always creates a fresh password and pushes it into the server.

If the reset does not seem to work

• Just built or reinstalled? Give the server 5 to 10 minutes after its first boot, then reset again. Windows in particular is not ready during its first minutes.
• Windows: account locked out. Too many failed login attempts lock the Administrator account for a while, even with the right password. See Windows VPS: can't connect by RDP, section 6.
• Linux with SSH keys only. If you chose key-based login at checkout, password SSH login is disabled by design; use your key, or log in through the dashboard Console and re-enable password authentication in /etc/ssh/sshd_config.
• You use a non-root user. The reset changes root (or Administrator) only. Log in as root and change your own user with passwd yourname.

Use the console as a backdoor

Every server page has a Console button (VNC). It connects you to the screen of the server directly, without SSH or RDP and without the network inside the server working. With the freshly reset password you can always get in this way.

Security tip

If you reset because you think someone else had the password, also rotate anything else that lives on the server (database passwords, API keys, saved broker logins) and check last on Linux or the Security event log on Windows for unknown logins.