Lost Your Server Password or Locked Out? What to Do

Being locked out of a server is common and almost always fixable. Start with the first cause that fits your situation.

1. Is the server running?

Open your server in your AtoZNode account and look at its status.

• Stopped because of an unpaid renewal: you cannot use or start it until the invoice is paid. Open Invoices, pay the unpaid one, and the server is switched on again. While a server is stopped, its login details and console are not available in the panel.
• Power off or rebooting: use the power buttons on the server page (start, restart) if the server is active.

2. Reset the root password

On an active server page, open the Access tab and use Reset root password. A new password is set and shown to you. Save it in a password manager, then log in with it: connect to your VPS with SSH.

If you log in with an SSH key and lost the key, a password reset lets you log in with the password once. Then add a new key as described in secure a new VPS.

3. Use the console

If SSH does not work at all, the console gives you a screen on the server itself, with no network needed. Open the server page and choose Console. Log in as root with the password from the panel. From there you can fix the cause:

sudo ufw status
sudo ufw disable
systemctl status ssh
sudo systemctl restart ssh

These show whether the firewall is blocking SSH, and restart the SSH service. Enable the firewall again after you add the rule you need: open and close ports with UFW.

4. Common reasons SSH fails

• Connection timed out: the firewall blocks the port, the server is off, or you used the wrong IP address.
• Permission denied: wrong user name (use root on a new server), wrong password, or the key is not the one installed.
• Too many failed attempts: fail2ban may have blocked your IP for a while. Wait 10 minutes, or unban yourself from the console with sudo fail2ban-client unban YOUR_IP.
• Host key warning: after a rebuild the server has a new identity. Remove the old line from your known_hosts file with ssh-keygen -R YOUR_IP.

Still stuck?

Open a ticket from the Support page. Tell us the server name, what you tried, and the exact error message. We reply to every ticket by email.