Install an OS via autoinstall

Auto-installation is a tool for installing and reinstalling the operating system on a dedicated server automatically via the control panel. The following are available for auto-installation:

• standard OS images;
• OS images with applications;
• your images prepared for OS auto-installation.

You can install the OS manually from your custom image.

OS auto-installation is not available for pre-configured servers with an upgrade.

Install OS via auto-install

carefully

During automatic OS reinstallation, data on all disks will be deleted, even if you only partition the boot disk.

We recommend saving your data or creating a backup before reinstalling the OS.

Linux

For your information

Once the OS installation is complete, the number of authentication attempts when connecting via SSH will be limited. After 10 failed password attempts from a single IP address, this IP address will be blocked for 24 hours. If you forgot the server password, you can reset and recover it.

1. In the control panel, open the top menu, click Products, and select Dedicated Servers.

2. In the Servers section, open the server page → Operating system tab.

3. Click Reinstall OS.

4. Optional: change the hostname.

5. Optional: select the server's public IP address. The IP address will be automatically configured on the port. The list displays IP addresses that are assigned to the server in the control panel and have a VLAN configured on the network port.

6. Optional: select the server's private IP address to automatically configure it on the port. The list displays IP addresses that are assigned to the server in the control panel.

7. Optional: to securely connect to the server, add an SSH key. You can add a new public SSH key or select an uploaded key from the SSH key storage.

8. Optional: enter user data. Using user data helps automate server configuration. The field is not available for all OSs. You can specify user data only for servers without hardware HBA and RAID controllers.

9. Select an image to install the OS.

10. Optional: if the server configuration includes RAID controllers, configure hardware RAID arrays. OS auto-install is only available for RAID1 and RAID0 levels. Only two disks can be added to RAID1.

    If RAID controller configuration and disk partitioning are not displayed in the OS configuration, OS installation will require the involvement of Servercore engineers. In this case, after clicking Install, a ticket will be created to change the OS configuration. After the work is completed, the RAID controller will be displayed in the OS configuration, and hardware RAID configuration and disk partitioning will become available to you.

11. Optional: partition disks. You can select the disk where the root partition / will be created and the OS installed. If the server has four or more disks, you can combine them in pairs into different RAID levels, for example, RAID1 and RAID0.

    By default, the optimal RAID level is determined, and only disks with partitions and disks in RAID are partitioned. If you leave the default partitioning, the OS will be installed on the first disk according to the drive installation order on the server: NVMe → SSD → HDD.

12. Click Install. Installation can take from 7 to 60 minutes, depending on server performance and the selected distribution. If more time has passed, create a ticket.

13. After the OS is installed, a password for connecting to the server will be generated. You can view the password in the control panel on the server page → Operating system tab. It is available for viewing for 24 hours after OS installation completes.

Windows

An evaluation version of the OS will be installed.

The OS will be installed on the first disk according to the drive installation order on the server: NVMe → SSD → HDD.

1. In the control panel, open the top menu, click Products, and select Dedicated Servers.

2. In the Servers section, open the server page → Operating system tab.

3. Click Reinstall OS.

4. Optional: change the hostname.

5. Optional: select the server's public IP address. The IP address will be automatically configured on the port. The list displays IP addresses that are assigned to the server in the control panel and have a VLAN configured on the network port.

6. Select an image to install the OS.

7. Optional: select the system disk on which the OS will be installed.

8. Click Install. Installation can take from 120 minutes, depending on server performance and the selected distribution. If more time has passed, create a ticket.

9. After the OS is installed, a password for connecting to the server will be generated. You can view the password in the control panel on the server page → Operating system tab. It is available for viewing for 24 hours after OS installation completes. If you forgot the server password, you can reset and recover it.

10. Partition disks using Windows tools or configure software RAID.

Custom image

1. In the control panel, open the top menu, click Products, and select Dedicated Servers.

2. In the Servers section, open the server page → Operating system tab.

3. Click Reinstall OS.

4. Optional: select the server's public IP address. The IP address will be automatically configured on the port. The list displays IP addresses that are assigned to the server in the control panel and have a VLAN configured on the network port.

5. Select the OS image that you prepared for the dedicated server.

6. Optional: select the system disk on which the OS will be installed.

7. Optional: if you are installing a Linux-based OS, you can partition disks and configure software RAID.

8. Click Install. Installation can take from 120 minutes, depending on server performance and the selected distribution. If more time has passed, create a ticket.

9. After the OS is installed, a password for connecting to the server will be generated. You can view the password in the control panel on the server page → Operating system tab. It is available for viewing for 24 hours after OS installation completes. If you forgot the server password, you can reset and recover it.

Partition disks

Linux (partitioning for each disk)

You can partition disks during the automatic OS installation process at step 11.

Partitioning for each disk separately can be performed for the following OSs: Ubuntu 24.04LTS, Ubuntu 22.04LTS, AlmaLinux 9.2x86_64, Oracle 9x86_64, Debian 12x86_64, Debian 11x86_64, Proxmox, Rocky 9.2x86_64.

1. In the Partitioning block, select a disk and click Make system — the root partition / will be created on this disk, and the OS will be installed.

2. Optional: add disks to a RAID array. On a single server, you can add disks to different RAID arrays. For example, if your server has four disks, you can add two of them to RAID1 and the other two to RAID0.

   Select a RAID level:

   • RAID1 — mirroring, all data is written to separate physical disks in the RAID set. A RAID1 array is built from a minimum of two disks;

   • RAID0 — striping. If one disk fails in RAID0, all data will be lost without possibility of recovery. A RAID0 array is built from a minimum of two disks;

   • RAID10 — mirroring and striping. All data is written sequentially across multiple disks. A RAID10 array is built from a minimum of four disks.

3. Check the disk or RAID partitioning. The partitioning table will display the required partitions with mount points: /boot, /, swap. The minimum size of the root partition / is 20 GB.

4. Optional: add a partition — select a file system and enter the partition size in GB. The choice of partition file system depends on OS limitations.

5. If an OS is being installed on the disk, make sure that no unallocated space remains on it.

6. Partition each disk on the server.

7. Proceed to step 12 in the automatic OS installation process.

Linux (partitioning the boot disk only)

You can partition disks during the automatic OS installation process at step 11.

Only the boot disk will be partitioned. The remaining disks can be partitioned using OS tools after installation.

1. In the Partitioning block, select a disk and click Make system — the root partition / will be created on this disk, and the OS will be installed.

2. If the server has one disk, skip this step. If the server has two or more disks, add the disks to a RAID and specify its level:

   • RAID1 — mirroring, all data is written to separate physical disks in the RAID set. A RAID1 array is built from a minimum of two disks;

   • RAID0 — striping. If one disk fails in RAID0, all data will be lost without possibility of recovery. A RAID0 array is built from a minimum of two disks;

   • RAID10 — mirroring and striping. All data is written sequentially across multiple disks. A RAID10 array is built from a minimum of four disks.

3. Check the system disk or RAID partitioning. The partitioning table will display the required partitions with mount points: /boot, /, swap. The minimum size of the root partition / is 20 GB.

4. Optional: add a partition — select a file system and enter the partition size in GB. The choice of partition file system depends on OS limitations.

5. Make sure that no unallocated space remains on the disk. If you need to leave unallocated space, create an additional partition with free space and delete it after the OS installation completes.

6. Proceed to step 12 in the automatic OS installation process.

Windows

1. Connect to the server via RDP or via the KVM console.

2. Press the key combination Win + R.

3. Launch the disk management utility:

   diskmgmt.msc

4. Right-click the partition you want to shrink and select Shrink Volume.

5. In the Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB field, specify the amount of space to allocate.

6. Click Shrink. Information about the allocated space will be displayed with the label Unallocated.

7. Create a new partition by right-clicking the allocated space and selecting New simple volume.

8. In the Simple volume size in MB field, enter the partition size.

9. Optional: select a drive letter.

10. Specify the partition file system.

11. Click Finish.