VPS and web hosting

How to connect to a Linux VPS over SSH

You connect to a Linux VPS over SSH: an encrypted connection in which you type commands directly on the server. All you need is the IP address, the user and the password, which arrive by email after activation. This guide shows the first connection from Windows, macOS and Linux, and what is worth doing in the first few minutes.

Updated on 16 October 20263 min readThe NeoHost team

What you need

The server’s IP address, the user and the password, from the activation email. On a NeoHost VPS you have root.
An SSH client. On Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Linux the ssh command is already installed and works from the terminal.

The first connection

Open a terminal: on Windows, PowerShell or Terminal; on macOS, the Terminal app; on Linux, any terminal.
Type the command below, with your server’s IP address in place of the one in the example.
On the first connection, the terminal shows you the server’s fingerprint and asks whether you accept it. Type yes: from now on your computer remembers the server.
Type the password. Nothing appears on screen while you type it, not even asterisks; that is normal. Press Enter.

ssh root@203.0.113.10

If the server listens on a port other than 22, give it with -p, for example ssh -p 2222 root@203.0.113.10.

The first minutes on the server

Change the password with passwd, especially if the email with the password sits in a mailbox other people read.
Update the system. On Ubuntu and Debian: apt update && apt upgrade.
Set up an SSH key instead of the password (below), so nobody can guess the password any more.

Connecting with an SSH key

An SSH key has two parts: a private one, which stays on your computer, and a public one, which you put on the server. With it you connect without a password, and it is much harder to crack than any password.

On your computer, generate the key with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 and press Enter at the questions, or set a passphrase if you want extra protection.
Copy the public key to the server. On macOS and Linux: ssh-copy-id root@203.0.113.10. On Windows, copy the contents of the .ssh\id_ed25519.pub file in your user folder into a new line of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server.
Connect again with ssh root@203.0.113.10. If you are no longer asked for the password, the key works.

Do not turn off password login before you have checked, in a separate window, that the key login works. Otherwise you can lock yourself out.

Files over SFTP

For large files, like a Minecraft world or the resources of a FiveM server, a windowed SFTP client is easier: FileZilla, WinSCP on Windows or Cyberduck on macOS. You use the same address, the same user and the same password or key as for SSH, on port 22.

If it does not work

Connection timed out: the IP address is wrong or the server is off. Check the address and the server status in the panel.
Permission denied: the user or the password is wrong. Watch out for capital letters and a keyboard set to another language.
REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED: the server was reinstalled and has a new fingerprint. Remove the old line with ssh-keygen -R followed by the IP address and connect again.