One of the most requested features from our VPS hosting customers has been the ability to boot from custom ISO images. It’s now live: you can boot any virtual server from our built-in ISO library or use it for rescue and recovery operations.
Why ISO boot matters
Our standard deployment templates cover the most popular operating systems: Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, and Windows Server versions. But templates don’t cover everything. Some customers need operating systems we don’t offer as templates. Others need to boot a rescue environment when their OS won’t start. And power users want to install the OS themselves from scratch, with full control over partitioning, filesystems, and configuration.
ISO boot solves all of these.
Our ISO library
We maintain a library of tested ISO images that you can boot directly from the Client Portal. The library includes operating systems that aren’t available as deployment templates:
Operating systems:
- FreeBSD: We’ve fully tested FreeBSD 14 on our infrastructure. FreeBSD gives you ZFS, jails, a high-performance network stack, and the BSD license. Netflix runs their streaming infrastructure on FreeBSD. Read our FreeBSD installation guide.
- Fedora: The upstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, with the newest packages and features before they make it into AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux.
- Gentoo: Compile everything from source with your own optimization flags. For users who want absolute control over what’s running on their VPS.
- Oracle Linux: Oracle’s RHEL-compatible distribution, useful if you run Oracle Database or Oracle applications.
- Slackware: One of the oldest Linux distributions, known for simplicity and manual configuration.
Virtualization and firewall platforms:
- Proxmox VE: Run your own virtual machines and containers inside your VPS using nested virtualization. Proxmox gives you a web-based management interface for KVM VMs and LXC containers.
- OPNsense: Turn your VPS into a firewall, VPN gateway, or network appliance. OPNsense is a FreeBSD-based firewall with a modern web interface, intrusion detection, traffic shaping, and VPN support (OpenVPN, WireGuard, IPsec).
Rescue and diagnostic tools:
- SystemRescue: A Linux-based rescue environment with tools for filesystem repair, disk cloning, password reset, and data recovery. If your Linux VPS won’t boot, SystemRescue can often fix it.
- Hiren’s BootCD PE: Windows-focused recovery tools for fixing boot issues, recovering files, and resetting passwords on Windows VPS instances.
- GParted Live: Partition management. Resize, move, create, and delete partitions on your VPS disk without data loss. Useful when you need to rearrange your disk layout.
- Memtest86+: Memory diagnostics. While less common on VPS (since the hypervisor manages physical RAM), it can help verify that your allocated memory is functioning correctly.
How to boot from ISO
- Log into the Client Portal
- Navigate to Manage VS to see your virtual servers
- Click the gear icon next to your VPS
- Go to the Actions tab
- Select the option to reboot while booting from an ISO
- Choose the ISO image from our library
- Connect to the VNC console (available through the portal) to interact with the boot process
The VNC console is key here. Unlike normal SSH access, the VNC console gives you screen-level access to the VPS, which is what you need for installation wizards, BIOS-level tools, and rescue environments that run before the OS has started.
Rescue scenarios
ISO boot is invaluable when things go wrong:
Failed kernel update: Your Linux VPS won’t boot after a kernel upgrade. Boot SystemRescue, mount your filesystem, and either roll back the kernel or fix the boot configuration.
Corrupted filesystem: Boot GParted or SystemRescue to run fsck, repair the filesystem, and recover your data.
Lost root password: Boot a rescue disc, mount the root filesystem, and reset the password by editing /etc/shadow (Linux) or use Hiren’s BootCD PE tools (Windows).
Disk space issues: Your VPS won’t boot because the root partition is full. Boot SystemRescue, mount the filesystem, and clean up space. Or use GParted to resize partitions.
Configuration lockout: You accidentally misconfigured SSH, the firewall, or networking, and now you can’t connect. Boot a rescue environment, mount the filesystem, and fix the config files.
Custom OS installation
For operating systems from our ISO library (FreeBSD, Proxmox, OPNsense, etc.), the process is:
- Deploy any Linux VPS with the resources you need (the initial OS doesn’t matter since you’ll replace it)
- Boot from the ISO of your desired OS
- Perform a manual installation through the VNC console
- After installation, reboot normally and your VPS runs the new OS
We’ve tested FreeBSD, Proxmox, and OPNsense extensively on our platform. Other ISOs from the library work but may require manual driver or network configuration.
Available on all VPS plans
ISO boot is available on every VPS hosting plan at no extra cost, across all six data centers (Santa Clara, Las Vegas, Dallas, Ashburn, Amsterdam, Singapore). Deploy a VPS and try it out, or contact our support team if you need help with a rescue operation or custom installation.