Virtualizor gives you full power control over your VPS, just like the power button on a physical server. Knowing the difference between a graceful stop and a forced power off helps you avoid data loss and solve hangs quickly.
Before you start
- Access to the Virtualizor end-user panel. See Virtualizor panel overview.
- If possible, save your work and stop important services (databases) before shutting down.
The power buttons
| Button | What happens | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Boots the VPS | The VPS is offline |
| Stop | Sends an ACPI shutdown signal; the OS shuts down cleanly | Planned shutdown |
| Restart | Reboots the VPS | After updates, or when services misbehave |
| Power Off | Cuts power immediately, like pulling the plug | The VPS is frozen and Stop does not work |
Restart a VPS
- Log in to Virtualizor and open your VPS from List VPS.
- Click Restart at the top of the page.
- Confirm. The status changes and the VPS is usually back within one to two minutes.
- Check the Tasks or Logs section to see that the action completed.
If you are logged in over SSH, sudo reboot does the same thing from inside the server and is the cleanest method.
Shut down cleanly
Click Stop. The operating system receives a shutdown request and closes services in order. On KVM, the guest must handle ACPI signals; most modern Linux and Windows images do. If the VPS is still running after a few minutes, use Power Off.
Force power off
Use Power Off only when the VPS does not respond – for example SSH and VNC are frozen. A forced power off can corrupt files that were being written, especially databases. After forcing, start the VPS and check logs and database tables.
Start a VPS
Click Start. If the VPS was suspended by the provider, the start button is unavailable or the action fails; contact support.
Troubleshooting
- VPS starts but is unreachable: open the VNC console to see the boot screen. Common causes are a wrong network configuration, a failed file system check or a firewall rule blocking SSH.
- Boots into an emergency shell: the file system needs repair, or
/etc/fstabhas a wrong entry. Use rescue mode to fix it; see rescue mode. - Restart does nothing: another task (backup, reinstall) may be running. Wait for it to finish and check the task list.
- Boots from an ISO instead of disk: change the boot order back to Hard Disk in the VPS settings and unmount the ISO.
- Windows VPS takes long to restart: Windows may be installing updates; watch progress in VNC.
Next steps
- Use the VNC console.
- Recover a VPS with rescue mode.
- Restart a Windows VPS.