I can't log in to my VPS (Permission denied)

If you see Permission denied, the username or password is usually wrong. On delivery you don't log in as root, but as your distribution's default user. The password is the one you set when you ordered.

Use the right username

On delivery you log in with your distribution's default user:

• Ubuntu: ubuntu
• Debian: debian
• AlmaLinux: almalinux
• Rocky Linux: rocky

A different operating system? Check your delivery email or your VPS on my.planetnode.net.

You then get root rights with sudo, for example sudo -i.

Check your password

The password is the one you set yourself when you ordered the VPS. These are common mistakes:

1. Typos. You don't see the password while you type. Type it again, carefully.
2. Caps lock. If caps lock is on, every letter has the wrong case.
3. Copy and paste. If you copy a space at the end, the password no longer matches. Paste it into a text editor first and check that nothing follows it.

Permission denied (publickey)

Does the message end in (publickey)? Then password login is turned off and the server expects an SSH key.

• If you've set up a key, log in with it, for example with ssh -i ~/.ssh/your_key user@ip-address.
• No key, or doesn't it work? Open a ticket.

Still not working?

Open a ticket. Say which VPS it's about, which username you log in with and exactly which message you see. Never include your password.

See also How do I log into my VPS?