A Pyro VPS is a full Linux machine that you control from the ground up, which means the operating system is yours to pick. You set it once when you deploy the server, and you can switch to a different one later by reinstalling. This page covers how that choice works, what the common options are, and what to do before you wipe a machine you already use.
Choosing an OS at deploy time#
You choose an operating system when you deploy a VPS, before the machine is created. The deploy form has an operating system selector with a list of common Linux distributions, so settle on the one you want to run and pick it there. Whatever you select is what gets installed on the disk when the server first boots, so you are ready to connect over SSH as soon as the build finishes.
If you are not sure which to pick, a current long term support release of Ubuntu or Debian is a safe default for most workloads. They have large communities, long update windows, and the widest set of ready-made install guides for anything you might want to run on top. For details on reaching the machine after it boots, see connecting to your VPS.
What you can install#
The selector carries the mainstream Linux distributions rather than every niche option, with the Debian and Ubuntu line being the most common choice. Each image is a clean minimal install, so you start from a bare system and add only the packages your project needs with the distribution package manager, such as apt on Debian and Ubuntu.
Reinstalling to a different OS#
If you want to switch distributions, move to a newer release, or just start over from a clean install, you can reinstall the VPS at any time. A reinstall wipes the current disk and lays down a fresh copy of the operating system you pick, so everything stored on the machine is gone once it runs. There is no undo, so treat it as a deliberate reset rather than a quick fix.
After a reinstall the machine comes back with a fresh root login and a clean filesystem, the same as a brand new deploy. Any firewall rules, installed services, and configuration you had set up will need to be put back in place. The public IP address stays the same, so anything pointed at the server by address keeps working once you reconfigure the software.
Back up before you wipe#
Because a reinstall erases the disk, back up whatever you need to keep before you begin. Pull a copy of anything important, such as databases or config files, off the server with a tool like scp or rsync so you have it outside the VPS entirely. Once you are confident your data is safe, run the reinstall and rebuild on the fresh OS.