Start, stop, reboot and delete a virtual machine

The buttons at the top of a VM’s page control its power and its life: Start, Stop, Hard stop, Reboot, Rebuild and Delete. Open the VM from Virtual Machines, My Virtual Machines to see them.

The buttons

Button	What it does	Asks you to confirm
Start	Powers on a stopped VM. Needs credit on your account	No
Stop	Shuts the VM down. Its disk and its IP addresses stay yours	No. It acts at once
Hard stop	Cuts the power of the VM without shutting the system down. ProVM only	Yes, with a tick box
Reboot	Restarts a running VM	No. It acts at once
Rebuild	Replaces the disk with a fresh system or a snapshot. See Rebuild	Yes
Delete	Removes the VM for good	Yes, with a tick box

Stop and Reboot have no “are you sure” step. The moment you select one, the VM goes down.

Every action is listed with its result under Recent activity on the Overview tab.

A stopped VM costs the same

A stopped VM is charged at the same price as a running one. Its disk and its IP addresses stay reserved for you. To stop paying for a VM, delete it. See What a virtual machine costs.

Stop or Hard stop

On a ProVM, Stop asks the system to shut down in the normal way, so it can close its programs and write its data first. Use it whenever the VM still responds.

Hard stop is for a ProVM that is stuck and does not shut down. It is the same as pulling the plug:

• Data that was only in memory is lost.
• The filesystem may need a check at the next start.
• It also works while the VM hangs in Starting or Stopping, or shows an error.

To use it, select Hard stop, tick I understand this is a forced power-off and may cause data loss. and select Hard stop again. VMs of other providers do not have this button.

On the other providers, Stop and Reboot send that provider’s own command, and it is not a clean shutdown everywhere: on DigitalOcean Stop is a power-off, and on OVH Reboot is a hard reboot. If such a VM runs a database, shut the system down from inside the VM first.

Waits between actions

A VM needs time to settle after its power state changed. During that time every other action on the same VM is refused with a message that says how many seconds are left.

After	You wait
Start	60 seconds
Reboot	90 seconds
Stop or Hard stop	15 seconds
An IP address change	90 seconds

Two more rules:

• One action at a time. While an action is running, the buttons are switched off.
• 3 seconds must pass between any two requests for the same VM.

When a button is switched off

Which buttons work depends on the VM’s status. Hover over a greyed-out button to read the reason.

Status	What you can do
Running	Stop, Reboot, Rebuild, Delete
Stopped	Start, Rebuild, Delete
Starting, Stopping, Rebooting	Nothing until it has finished. On a ProVM, Hard stop
Error, Failed	Reboot, Delete. On a ProVM, also Hard stop
Frozen	Delete. A VM is frozen when your credit ran out: see When your credit runs low
Rescue mode	Nothing until you leave rescue mode

Start is also refused when your account has no credit left.

Delete a VM

1. If you want to keep what is on the disk, copy it somewhere else first, or take a snapshot.

2. On the VM’s page, select Delete.

3. Tick I understand this deletion is permanent, billing may finalize, and this cannot be undone.

4. Select Delete.

The VM is charged up to the moment it is deleted, and then no more.

Gone with the VM	Kept
The VM and its disks	Your snapshots of the VM
Its IP addresses, also additional ones	Your SSH keys
Its domains and the DNS record of its automatic subdomain

Deleting cannot be undone

There is no way to get a deleted VM, its disk or its IP address back.

Snapshots stay, and they still cost storage. After the VM is gone they are listed on Virtual Machines, Snapshots. You can create a new VM from one, and you pay their storage price until you delete them.