Reinstall your server safely

Sometimes a clean start is faster than any troubleshooting: after an experiment that went wrong, or when you want a different operating system. The reinstall in your account resets your server to a fresh system in a few minutes.

What happens during a reinstall?

Stays	Is lost
IP addresses (IPv4 and IPv6)	all data on the disk
Panel firewall rules	installed software and settings
Runtime and resources	SSH keys and passwords inside the system
Backups in the Backups tab

So you do not need to change any DNS records, your domain keeps pointing to the same server.

1. Back up first

Create a backup in the Backups tab before you start. It lets you go back if something important was still on the server. You can also copy single files to your computer with scp or rsync:

rsync -avz root@10.0.0.25:/etc/nginx/ ./nginx-backup/

2. Reinstall

1. Open the server and go to the Reinstall tab.
2. Choose the operating system.
3. Confirm with your current account password and click Reinstall server.

This takes a few minutes. Meanwhile the server is locked for all other actions; a window shows the progress and closes by itself when everything is done.

A reinstall cannot be undone. The only way back is a backup you created beforehand.

3. Afterwards

• Your credentials are in the Access tab. Set a new password under Settings.
• Put your SSH keys from the account back on the server with Deploy in the Access tab.
• Update the packages:

apt update && apt full-upgrade -y

• Then set up the firewall inside the server again, see Secure your server: combining the panel firewall and UFW.

Windows?

We do not offer preinstalled Windows. With your own licence you install Windows from your own ISO via the ISO / media tab; we provide the VirtIO drivers there as a second drive.