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Rescue mode restarts your VPS on SystemRescue, a Linux troubleshooting system that runs in memory. Your own system does not start: its disks stay untouched and reachable, so you can repair a server that no longer boots, recover files or fix a configuration.
Prerequisites
  • A VPS at OnetSolutions (Linux or Windows)
  • A role that can read the instance’s credentials (owner or editor)

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Enter rescue mode

1

Open the Rescue mode tab

On your VPS page, click Rescue mode, under Console.
2

Restart in rescue mode

Click Restart in rescue mode, read the warnings and confirm. The VPS restarts on the rescue system within one or two minutes.
3

Open the console

Click Open the console. You land straight in a root session, without a password: [root@sysrescue ~]#.

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Reach your disks

Your VPS’s disks are attached but not mounted. To list them, then mount your system’s partition:
The partition name may differ: lsblk -f shows the file system of each one. A few common uses:
  • Check a file system: fsck -f /dev/sda1, with the partition unmounted.
  • Fix a file that stops the boot (/etc/fstab, a network configuration): edit it under /mnt.
  • Work inside your system as if it had booted:
Windows (NTFS) disks mount the same way.

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Leave rescue mode

Click Leave rescue mode in the Rescue mode tab. The VPS restarts on its own system.
  • The VPS restarts when entering and leaving rescue mode: your services are stopped in between.
  • Rescue mode ends by itself after 4 hours: the VPS then restarts on its own system. Unmount your disks (umount /mnt) before then so nothing is lost.
  • While in rescue mode, the password change and the reinstall are unavailable.
If you only need to get back into your server, changing the password from the console is often simpler.