First login to a VPS: SSH keys and root password
How to sign in to your VPS or container for the first time, with an SSH key or with the first root password, and how to change keys and password afterwards.
SSH keys at checkout
At checkout, under SSH keys for the new server, you choose which of your saved keys go onto the server; keys set to All servers are already chosen. Add a new key lets you paste a public key (ssh-ed25519 AAAA…, PuTTY format works too); it is saved to your account along the way.
No key yet? On Linux, macOS and Windows 10/11 you create one in a terminal:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "my-laptop"Paste the contents of the file ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub. Never hand out the private key (without .pub); the portal refuses it anyway.
Signing in
As soon as the server is ready, its address is on the overview and in the Network tab. Then sign in as root:
ssh root@203.0.113.10Use your server's address instead of the example.
The first root password
Without a key you sign in with the first password. It is on the overview in the Access card under First password, stored encrypted until you delete it. Change it after your first sign-in, then delete it from the portal with Noted, delete it here. After a reinstall there is a new first password.
Signing in as root with a password is allowed by the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/01-goodflare.conf. To allow keys only, set PasswordAuthentication no there and reload SSH (systemctl reload ssh, on Rocky, AlmaLinux and Fedora sshd). Change the file rather than deleting it: on a container, a password change in the portal puts it back when it is missing and you have not set PermitRootLogin anywhere yourself.
Changing it later: the Access tab
- Change password: at least 12 characters with upper and lower case and a digit, or a generated one. It is set right in the running system and applies at once.
- SSH keys: add, choose from your saved ones or remove, at most 10 per server. Applies to root at once.
For both the server must be running; a VM also needs the guest agent (package qemu-guest-agent) running. Without it, change the password and keys yourself in the system.
Keys in your account
Account, SSH keys holds all your keys and which servers they apply to. For game servers and websites a change there takes effect at once. A VPS is changed by the account only after you confirm (Save and add to … VPS). Deleting a key in the account does not remove it from a VPS; do that in the VPS's Access tab.
Which systems there are
Which Linux systems you can choose is shown when ordering and in the Reinstall tab, for example Debian 12 and Ubuntu 24.04. We do not offer Windows, and uploading your own ISO image is not possible. On a VM the reinstall can also set up an application such as Docker, WordPress or Nextcloud, or take your own cloud-init configuration.
If you cannot get in at all any more, the rescue system helps on a VM, the console in the browser on a container.
Related articles
- Console in the browserA terminal of your VPS or container right in the browser. It works even when SSH cannot be reached, for example after a wrong firewall rule.
- Network and public IP addressEvery VPS and container gets its own public IPv4 address. What the Network tab shows, how to have reverse DNS (PTR) set, what we protect and limit, and how email over port 25 is unblocked.
- Rescue systemIf your VM's system no longer starts or you have locked yourself out, start a small Linux from CD. From there you repair your system or download data.
- Order and setupFrom the configurator to a running server: what happens when you order, what you confirm along the way and when your server is ready.
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