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How to recover server access if your user password is lost

Stephanie R.
Updated

This guide explains how to reset your user account password if you have lost access to your server.

Without a different mode of authentication or another user account, losing your password means you can no longer log in to your server in a regular way.

In this case, you can connect to your server via the OVHcloud rescue mode, which allows you to log in with a provisional password and modify your files.

To recover access to a server that you log in to with an SSH key, refer to our guide on How to replace an SSH key pair instead.

 

Requirements

This guide does not apply to Windows server installations. Please refer to our guides on How to change the admin password on a Windows dedicated server and How to change the admin password on a Windows VPS.

 

Instructions

Be sure to consult our "Getting started" guides as well:

NOTE: OVHcloud provides services for which you are responsible for their configuration and management. You are therefore responsible for their proper functioning.

This tutorial is designed to help you as much as possible with common tasks. If you are having difficulty performing these actions, please contact a specialized service provider. OVHcloud can't provide you with technical support in this regard.

 

Step 1: Restart the server into rescue mode

Use the corresponding rescue mode guide to connect to your server and mount your partitions:

To proceed, your system partition must be mounted and you must have write access to your file system.

This means that you have entered a version of the following command into the rescue mode shell:

chroot path/to/partition/mountpoint/

The exact command depends on the mountpoint you used. For example, if you have mounted your partition at /mnt, it would be the following:

chroot /mnt/

 

Step 2: Reset the user password

NOTE: On a GNU/Linux distribution, a password prompt will not display your keyboard inputs.

Change the user password with the following command (replace username with the actual name of the user account):

passwd username
New password: 
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully

Remember to use the regular boot mode of your server when restarting it in your OVHcloud Control Panel.

Refer to the corresponding rescue mode guide if necessary.

You now have access to the server with your new password.

 

Go further

Creating and using SSH keys

Dedicated server rescue mode

VPS rescue mode

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Dedicated Servers support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

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