Using the VNC Console & Recovery Mode

VPS
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The VNC console

Every VPS has a built-in browser console available from the Console tab on the service page. It connects directly to the VM’s virtual display, so it works even when networking, SSH, or the firewall are misconfigured.

When to use it

  • You changed an SSH config and locked yourself out.
  • You enabled a firewall rule that blocked your IP.
  • The VM does not appear to be on the network.
  • You need to interact with the bootloader (GRUB).
  • You need to reset the root password from single-user mode.

Tips

  • The console captures keyboard input only when focused. Click into the window before typing.
  • Some browser extensions intercept keyboard shortcuts; if a shortcut is not reaching the VM, try an incognito window.
  • For long pastes, use the Send Text tool in the console toolbar instead of Ctrl + V.
  • The console session is authenticated against your panel login — never share the URL.

Recovery Mode

If your VPS will not boot at all — broken bootloader, corrupt filesystem, forgotten root password, misconfigured fstab — Recovery Mode reboots the VM from a small Linux rescue ISO so you can fix it. Your disk is not modified by entering recovery mode; only the boot order changes.

Open the recovery page

From the VPS service page, click the Recovery Mode quick-action card. The panel queries the agent for the current state and the list of available rescue ISOs.

Enabling recovery mode

  1. Pick a recovery ISO. The panel highlights a sensible default (usually SystemRescue, Finnix, or grml).
  2. Click Boot into Recovery Mode and confirm.
  3. The VPS reboots from the ISO. Open the VNC Console to interact with it.

Typical rescue workflow

  1. Log in at the rescue prompt (usually no password is required, or one is shown on the boot banner).
  2. Identify your disk: lsblk — usually /dev/vda1 or /dev/sda1.
  3. Mount it: mount /dev/vda1 /mnt
  4. To reset a forgotten root password, chroot into the disk: 
    mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
chroot /mnt
passwd root
exit
  5. To repair a filesystem: fsck -y /dev/vda1 (run while it is not mounted).
  6. To copy data off, mount the recovery target and use scp or rsync over the rescue environment’s network.

Disabling recovery mode

When you are done, return to the Recovery Mode page and click Disable Recovery Mode. The VPS reboots back into your normal operating system. Make sure to umount /mnt and exit any chroots first to avoid filesystem inconsistency.

Recovery mode reboots the VPS immediately. If anything important is running, shut down cleanly first — the rescue boot is the equivalent of yanking the power and inserting a USB stick.
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