How to connect to a VPS via SSH from Windows, macOS and Linux

Step 1. Where do you get the server IP and password?

Your hosting provider gives you the server's IP address, login and password. At Tihost they are shown in the panel under «My Servers» and in the Telegram bot @tihost_bot; Linux servers come with the root user. If you lose the password, set a new one with the «Change Password» button in the same place.

Step 2. Open a terminal

• Windows 10 and 11 - press Win+X and choose Terminal or Windows PowerShell. The OpenSSH client ships with the system; check it with ssh -V. If the command is missing, add the OpenSSH Client under Settings → Apps → Optional features.
• macOS - open Terminal via Spotlight (Cmd+Space, "Terminal"). SSH is already installed.
• Linux - any terminal emulator, usually Ctrl+Alt+T. If ssh is missing, install the openssh-client package.

Do you need PuTTY?

No, but you can use it: enter the IP in Host Name, port 22, click Open and log in as root. PuTTY has its own key format (.ppk) and loads OpenSSH keys through PuTTYgen. For a beginner the built-in ssh is simpler: commands from any guide work in it as written.

Step 3. Connect and accept the server fingerprint

Run the command with your server's address. On the first connection SSH shows the fingerprint of the server's key and asks whether you trust it:

ssh root@SERVER_IP

Type yes in full and press Enter: the fingerprint is saved to ~/.ssh/known_hosts, and SSH checks the server against it on every later login. To compare the fingerprint beforehand, run ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub in the VNC console. Then enter the password - nothing is echoed while you type, which is normal. To leave the server, type exit.

Step 4. Create an ed25519 SSH key

An SSH key is a pair of files: the private key stays on your computer and the public one (.pub) goes to the server. The command is the same in PowerShell, macOS and Linux; run it on your own computer, not on the server:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "my-laptop"

Press Enter to save the key in the default location (~/.ssh/id_ed25519, on Windows C:\Users\Name\.ssh\id_ed25519) and set a passphrase - it protects the key if your laptop is stolen. Never send the private key to anyone.

Step 5. Copy the key to the server

On macOS and Linux, ssh-copy-id sends the public key: it asks for the server password one last time and appends the key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. The second command checks the login - no server password is needed any more.

ssh-copy-id root@SERVER_IP
ssh root@SERVER_IP

Windows has no ssh-copy-id. This PowerShell line does the same job - it creates the .ssh directory on the server, appends the key and sets the right permissions:

type $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\id_ed25519.pub | ssh root@SERVER_IP "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Step 6. Add a short name in ~/.ssh/config

To stop typing the address every time, describe the server in ~/.ssh/config (on Windows C:\Users\Name\.ssh\config, no extension). The word after Host is the alias you will type:

Host tihost
    HostName SERVER_IP
    User root
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Now ssh tihost is enough. The alias also works with scp, sftp and editors with remote development - for example, scp backup.tar.gz tihost:/root/ copies a file to the server.

Common SSH errors and what they mean

How to fix REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED

After an OS reinstall the server has a new key, and SSH blocks the login to protect you from a spoofed server. If you did the reinstall yourself, remove the old entry and connect again - SSH will ask about the fingerprint once more:

ssh-keygen -R SERVER_IP

What if SSH does not respond at all?

Open «Console (VNC)» on the server page in the Tihost panel: it is the server's screen right in the browser and needs neither SSH nor working networking inside the server. Log in as root with the password from the panel and check the SSH service (systemctl status ssh) and the firewall (ufw status). The console works only while the server is powered on.

Once you are in, continue with the first server setup: your own user, password login off, UFW and fail2ban. After that you can install Docker or point a domain at the server. Unfamiliar words like root and known_hosts are explained in the VPS glossary.