1. Reinstall in the provider’s dashboard
- BandwagonHost: in KiwiVM, Stop the server first, then go to “Install new OS” and install Ubuntu 24.04 (64-bit). The page then shows the new root password and SSH port — copy them right away.
- 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? 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):
Remove the old host fingerprint
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”.