The instance page is for a live box. You can start, stop, take a snapshot, reset the password, rebuild, change the OS, resize up only, or destroy the instance. Those buttons do different things to the disk. Mixing them up is how people lose a week of work.
Open Snapshots before a rebuild if you want a rollback. You get 5 slots, billed at $0.048 per GB per month. A snapshot is not an offsite backup — it lives on the host. Copy off what you still need (rsync, an object store, a second box) if you want a copy you control. Do that before you click rebuild, not after the confirm page.
Reset password keeps the disk. Rebuild and change OS do not. Read the confirm text before you click.
What each action does
Reset password issues a new SSH or RDP secret and leaves the filesystem in place. Use it when you lost the login and still want the same files. The new secret is mailed and shown in the console. We will not type it into a public chat.
Rebuild wipes the disk and installs the same image again. Change OS wipes the disk and installs a different image. The IPv4 and the instance row can stay. The old root filesystem does not. Apps, uploads, Docker volumes, and Windows profiles go with it. A new password is issued either way.
Resize on monthly cloud goes up only. CPU, RAM, and disk can grow. You cannot shrink a plan to pocket unused RAM. The wallet pays the difference. The renewal date stays. The dedicated note is Resize a VPS.
Destroy deletes the instance through the same path used for unpaid boxes. Disks and IPs are gone. Unused prepaid time is not refunded.
Before you rebuild
- Copy off what you still need.
- Confirm the image you want next. Fedora and Kali still need 2 GB. cPanel still needs 4 GB. The catalog will block a choice that does not fit.
- Click through the confirm. Access after a successful rebuild is instant, the same as a first deploy.
If the box is already suspended, a rebuild will not lift a desk hold. Open a ticket first. If the period already ended and the VM is gone, there is nothing left to rebuild — fund the wallet and deploy a new box.
More console notes sit on the FAQ. Use Deploy only when you are ready to start over on a new disk.
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