1. Reinstall in the provider’s dashboard
BandwagonHost (KiwiVM)
BandwagonHost servers come with a default OS that often isn’t Ubuntu 24.04, so you reinstall once. It takes a few minutes:
- Open the KiwiVM control panel (client area → Services → My Services → open the server → KiwiVM Control Panel). The Operating system line on the home page shows the current OS.
- On the home page (Main controls), click Stop to shut the server down.
- Click Install new OS in the left menu.
- Pick Ubuntu 24.04 from the list (64-bit, the entry with x86_64 in its name).
- Tick “I agree that all existing data on my VPS will be lost” and click Reload.
- Wait a few minutes. The page then shows the new root password (New Root password) and SSH port (SSH Port). They’re shown only once — copy them right away.
- Go back to Main controls. When the status says Running, you’re done; if it’s still stopped, click Start.
- The IP stays the same. The root password changes, and the SSH port may too — use what step 6 shows.
- Missed the password? Generate a new one under Root password modification in the left menu (the server must be running).
DMIT and others
Find “Reinstall” / “Rebuild” on the server page and choose Ubuntu 24.04. The new root password is usually shown on the page or emailed.
No 24.04 in the list? Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12 work too.
2. Clean up on your computer (only if you connected to this server before)
After reinstalling, the server’s identity fingerprint changes, and your computer will think something is impersonating it and refuse to connect. Delete the old record first (replace the IP with yours):
ssh-keygen -R your-IP
ssh-keygen -R "[your-IP]:your-port"The second line is only needed if the SSH port isn’t 22.
If the port changed: open ~/.ssh/config on your computer, find the block for your server’s name and change Port to the new port.
3. Configure again
With the new root password, start again from step 3, “Configure the server”.