Reinstalling Your VPS: What You Keep, What Changes

Sometimes the fastest way to fix a messy VPS, or switch operating systems, is a clean reinstall rather than trying to undo whatever went wrong. Here's exactly what that does.

What Gets Wiped

Everything on the disk. A reinstall is a genuine fresh install of the operating system you pick — any files, installed software, users and configuration from before are gone. If there's anything you need, download it from the file manager or take a backup first; there's no undo once it starts.

What Stays Exactly the Same

• Your IP address. No DNS changes, no updating firewall allowlists elsewhere — the address doesn't move.
• Your plan. Same RAM, CPU, disk and bandwidth allowance as before.
• Your bandwidth usage for the month. This is easy to assume resets along with everything else — it doesn't. We record a final usage snapshot right before wiping the VM, so your monthly total keeps counting from where it was, not from zero. See our post on how VPS bandwidth works for why that matters.

What You Choose

Which operating system to install — whatever your plan offers (typically Ubuntu, sometimes others depending on the product). You also get a new password, shown right after the reinstall finishes; your old one no longer works, for obvious reasons.

How Long It Takes

A reinstall goes through the same steps as first creating the VPS — cloning the template, applying your plan's resources, booting it — typically a couple of minutes. Your service page shows live progress the whole way through.

When to Reinstall vs. When Not To

Reinstall when you want a genuinely clean slate: switching OS, recovering from a badly broken configuration, or just starting over on a project. It's not the right tool if you only need to undo one recent change — for that, restoring a backup (if you have one) or just fixing the specific issue is faster and doesn't touch anything else.

Find it under your VPS's Manage page → Reinstall tab.