Install the OS manually from your image

Last update: April 15 2026

You can manually install an OS from your own image on a dedicated server. If you do not have special requirements for the OS, we recommend using standard images - from them you can install the OS by auto-installation or manually.

1. Boot the server in Rescue mode.
2. Optional: if you are connecting to the server from Windows, install the OpenSSH client.
3. Install the OS from your image.
4. Optional: configure the network interface.
5. Change the upload template.

1. Boot the server in Rescue mode

1. In the Control Panel, on the top menu, click Products and select Dedicated Servers.

2. In the Servers section, open the Server page → Operating System tab.

3. Click Change Upload Template.

4. In the Boot Template field, select Boot to Rescue.

5. Click Save and reboot. The server will be rebooted.

2. Optional: install OpenSSH Client

If you are not connecting to the server from within Windows, skip this step.

To connect via SSH from Windows, you must install the OpenSSH Client. For more information about working with OpenSSH, see Getting Started with OpenSSH in Windows in the Microsoft documentation.

1. Run PowerShell as an administrator.

2. Check if OpenSSH Client is installed on your Windows OS:

   Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object Name -like 'OpenSSH.Client'

   The response will show the name and status of the OpenSSH components. For example:

   Name  : OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
   State : Installed

   Here State is the status of the components:

   • Installed - component is installed in the OS;
   • NotPresent - component is not installed in the OS.

3. If the State field in the response in step 2 has a value of NotPresent, the OpenSSH components are not installed. Install the OpenSSH Client:

   Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0

   Example answer:

   Path          :
   Online        : True
   RestartNeeded : False

4. If the answer in step 3 in the RestartNeeded field is True, restart the computer.

3. Install the OS from your image

The qemu-iso script is used to install the OS from its image. The script uploads the iso-image to the server, starts the VNC server and initiates the OS installation process.

The OS image can be uploaded to the server:

• via the URL of the image, which is hosted on a publicly available resource. The qemu-iso script will load the OS image into the server RAM;
• or manually from the local computer to the disk or RAM of the server.

Install with image download via URL

1. Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see the Connect by VNC subsection of the Connect to Server instructions.

2. Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.

3. Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC - 5900:

   ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>

   Specify <ip_address> - public IP address of the server. You can copy it in the control panel: in the top menu click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → Server → Server page → Operating System tab → in the IP field click .

4. Copy the URL of the OS image you are going to install. The image must be hosted on a publicly available resource, and the image size must be at least 2 GB less than the server RAM.

   To make the image download faster, we recommend placing the image in S3 Selectel - see the Download Object instructions for details.

5. Run the qemu-iso script. The script will upload the installation files to the server, start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:

   qemu-iso <url>

   Specify:

   • <url> - path to the OS image you copied in step 4;
   • optional: -nic_type <virtual_network_adapter> - type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, for a VMware ESXi installation, change the virtual network adapter to vmxnet3. You can see a complete list of supported virtual network adapters using the qemu-system-x86_64 -device help command.

6. Wait for a message that the OS image has been uploaded to the server and the VNC server is running:

   VM has been created!

7. Open the VNC client on the local computer.

8. Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:

   • The IP address is localhost:5900;
   • password - leave the field blank.

9. Go through all the steps of installing the OS.

10. In the Rescue console, press Ctrl + C to complete the qemu-iso process.

11. Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.

Install by uploading the image to the server

Download the image to disk

1. Make sure you have an extra disk on your server. The OS image must be placed on a disk on which the OS will not be installed. If the server does not have an additional disk, you can change the configuration of the dedicated server.

2. Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see the Connect by VNC subsection of the Connect to Server instructions.

3. Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.

4. Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC - 5900:

   ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>

   Specify <ip_address> - public IP address of the server. You can copy it in the control panel: in the top menu click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → Server → Server page → Operating System tab → in the IP field click .

5. Save the image to your local computer.

6. Upload the OS image to the server:

   6.1 Look for the name of the disk to which you are going to load the OS image, to do this, print the disk information:

   lsblk

   6.2 Create a partition on the disk:

     fdisk /dev/<partition>

   Specify <partition> - the disk partition to which the OS image will be loaded. For example, for a disk named sdX - sdX1.

   6.3 Create a file system using the mkfs utility ( ext4 partitioning format is used ):

   mkfs.ext4 /dev/<partition>

   Specify <partition> is the partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.

   6.4 Mount the file system:

   mount /dev/<partition> /mnt

   Specify <partition> is the partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.

   6.5 Download the OS image from the local computer to the dedicated server using the scp utility:

   scp ./<iso_image_name> root@<ip_address>:/mnt/<partition>/

   Specify:

   • <iso_image_name> - name of the file with the OS image in the format .iso;
   • <ip_address> - The public IP address of the server. Can be copied from the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → in the field IP click ;
   • <partition> - partition on the disk you created in step 6.2.

7. Run the qemu-iso script. The script will start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:

   qemu-iso <path_to_image>

   Specify:

   • <path_to_image> - path to the OS image file you uploaded to the server in step 6.5. For example, /mnt/sdX1/Win_Server_2022.iso;
   • optional: -nic_type <virtual_network_adapter> - type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, for a VMware ESXi installation, change the virtual network adapter to vmxnet3. You can see a complete list of supported virtual network adapters using the qemu-system-x86_64 -device help command.

8. Wait for a message that the VNC server is running:

   VM has been created!

9. Open the VNC client on the local computer.

10. Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:

• The IP address is localhost:5900;
• password - leave the field blank.

11. In the Rescue console, press Ctrl + C to complete the qemu-iso process.

12. Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.

Load the image into RAM

1. Install a VNC client on the local computer. For a list of VNC clients for different operating systems, see Connect by VNC instructions Connect to Server.

2. Open the CLI. On a local Windows computer, use PowerShell.

3. Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC - 5900:

   ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>

   Specify <ip_address> - public IP address of the server. You can copy it in the control panel: in the top menu click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → Server → Server page → Operating System tab → in the IP field click .

4. Save the OS image on your local computer. The image size should be smaller than the server RAM by at least 2 GB.

5. Load the OS image into the RAM of the dedicated server using the scp utility:

   scp ./<iso_image_name> root@<ip_address>:/tmp/

   Specify:

   • <iso_image_name> - name of the file with the OS image in the format .iso;
   • <ip_address> - The public IP address of the server. Can be copied from the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → in the field IP click .

6. Run the qemu-iso script. The script will start the VNC server and initiate the OS installation process:

   qemu-iso <path_to_image>

   Specify:

   • <path_to_image> - path to the OS image you uploaded to the server in step 5. For example, /tmp/Win_Server_2022.iso;
   • optional: -nic_type <virtual_network_adapter> - type of network device to emulate in the virtual machine. For example, for a VMware ESXi installation, change the virtual network adapter to vmxnet3. You can see a complete list of supported virtual network adapters using the qemu-system-x86_64 -device help command.

7. Wait for a message that the VNC server is running:

   VM has been created!

8. Open the VNC client on the local computer.

9. Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:

   • The IP address is localhost:5900;
   • password - leave the field blank.

10. Go through all the steps of installing the OS.

11. In the Rescue console, press Ctrl + C to complete the qemu-iso process.

12. Optional: without leaving Rescue mode, configure the network interface. We recommend that you configure the network interface immediately after installing the OS, otherwise the server may not be accessible over the network.

4. Configure the network interface

After manually installing the OS, the network configuration file may contain the interface name that was used in the virtual environment, such as eth0. After a reboot on the physical server, the network interface may be given a different name, such as enp1s0. Because of this mismatch, the server may not be accessible over the network until the network interface name is corrected to the current one. We recommend that you correct the name immediately after installing the OS without exiting Rescue mode.

You can also configure the network interface and synchronize the time with an external NTP server later. Additional OS settings depend on the configuration of the image you are installing.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

1. In the Rescue console, look up the name of the network interface by bringing up the network interface information:

   ip a

   In the response, find the interface in the UP state that has a public IP address. Memorize or copy the name of the network interface in the altname field. For example:

     1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
         link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
         inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
         inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
     2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
         link/ether 00:0c:00:0f:0:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
         altname enp1s0
         inet 203.0.113.0/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global eth0
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
         inet6 fe00::000c:00ff:fe0f:00f0/64 scope link proto kernel_ll
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   Here enp1s0 is the name of the desired network interface.

2. Connect to the OS installed on the server by running the qemu-iso script without specifying an image:

   qemu-iso

3. Open the netplan utility configuration file with the vi text editor:

   vi /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml

4. Change the values of the parameters. The correct values can be viewed in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Server page → Network tab → click the desired subnet.

   network:
     ethernets:
       <eth_name>:
         addresses:
           - <ip_address>/<mask>
         gateway4: <gateway>
       renderer: networkd
       version: 2

   Specify:

   • <eth_name> - name of the network interface of the public network, value from the field altname that you obtained in step 1;
   • <ip_address> - The public IP address of the server. Can be copied from the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → in the field IP click ;
   • <mask> - subnet mask;
   • <gateway> - default gateway.

5. Press ESC.

6. Exit the vi text editor with your changes saved:

   :wq

7. Apply the configuration:

   netplan apply

8. Synchronize the time with an external NTP server.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS

1. In the Rescue console, look up the name of the network interface by bringing up the network interface information:

   ip a

   In the response, find the interface in the UP state that has a public IP address. Memorize or copy the name of the network interface in the altname field. For example:

     1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
         link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
         inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
         inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
     2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
         link/ether 00:0c:00:0f:0:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
         altname enp1s0
         inet 203.0.113.0/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global eth0
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
         inet6 fe00::000c:00ff:fe0f:00f0/64 scope link proto kernel_ll
           valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   Here enp1s0 is the name of the desired network interface.

2. Connect to the OS installed on the server by running the qemu-iso script without specifying an image:

   qemu-iso

3. Open the netplan utility configuration file with the vi text editor:

   vi /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml

4. Change the values of the parameters. The correct values can be viewed in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Server page → Network tab → click the desired subnet.

   network:
     version: 2
     renderer: networkd
     ethernets:
       <eth_name>:
         addresses:
           - <ip_address>/<mask>
         gateway4: <gateway>

   Specify:

   • <eth_name> - name of the network interface of the public network, value from the field altname that you obtained in step 1;
   • <ip_address> - The public IP address of the server. Can be copied from the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → in the field IP click ;
   • <mask> - subnet mask;
   • <gateway> - default gateway.

5. Press ESC.

6. Exit the vi text editor with your changes saved:

   :wq

7. Apply the configuration:

   netplan apply

8. Synchronize the time with an external NTP server.

Debian

1. In the Rescue console, look up the name of the network interface by bringing up the network interface information:

   ip a

   In the response, find the interface in the UP state that has a public IP address. Memorize or copy the name of the network interface in the altname field. For example:

   1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
       link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
       inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
       inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
   2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 00:0c:00:0f:00:f0 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
       altname enp1s0
       inet 203.0.113.0/24 brd 203.0.113.255 scope global eth0
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
       inet6 fe00::000c:00ff:fe0f:00f0 /64 scope link proto kernel_ll
         valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

   Here enp1s0 is the name of the desired network interface.

2. Connect to the OS installed on the server by running the qemu-iso script without specifying an image:

   qemu-iso

3. Open the network interfaces configuration file with the vi text editor:

   vi /etc/network/interfaces.d/50-cloud-init

4. Change the values of the parameters. The correct values can be viewed in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → Server → Server page → Network tab → click the desired subnet.

auto <eth_name>
  iface <eth_name> inet static
    address <ip_address>/<mask>
    gateway <gateway>

Specify:

• <eth_name> - name of the network interface of the public network, value from the field altname that you obtained in step 1;
• <ip_address> - public IP address of the server, e.g. 203.0.113.0. Can be copied into the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → server page → tab Operating System → in the field IP click ;
• <mask> - subnet mask;
• <gateway> - gateway.

5. Press ESC.

6. Exit the vi text editor with your changes saved:

   :wq

7. Restart the network:

   service networking restart

8. Synchronize the time with an external NTP server.

Windows

1. Initialize the network interfaces by reverting to the previous server boot template or rebooting the server from the OS. When you reboot the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before the server booted in Rescue mode.

2. Boot the server in Rescue mode:

   2.1 In the control panel, click Products in the top menu and select Dedicated Servers.

   2.2.In the Servers section, open the Server page → Operating System tab.

   2.3.Click Change Upload Template.

   2.4.In the Boot Template field, select Boot to Rescue.

3. Connect to the server via SSH by forwarding the standard port for VNC - 5900.

   ssh -L 5900:localhost:5900 root@<ip_address>

   Specify <ip_address> - public IP address of the server. You can copy it in the control panel: in the top menu click Products → Dedicated Servers → Servers → Server → Server page → Operating System tab → in the IP field click .

4. Look up the name of the network adapter, to do this, bring up the Ethernet network device information:

   lspci | grep Ethernet

   The response will show the name of the network adapter. Memorize or copy it.

   01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
   02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)

   Here Intel Corporation I210 Gigabit Network Connection is the name of the network adapter.

5. Connect to the OS installed on the server by running the qemu-iso script without specifying an image:

   qemu-iso

6. Open the VNC client on the local computer.

7. Connect to the server. The connection process depends on the selected VNC client. Parameters to connect:

   • The IP address is localhost:5900;
   • password - leave the field blank.

8. Open cmd.

9. Open the Registry Editor:

   regedit

10. Find the interface you want:

    10.1 Expand the registry section:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

    The list will list network interfaces from address 0000 through 0013.

    10.2 Find the interface that has the names of the network adapters obtained in step 4 in the Driver Desc parameter. Save the NetCfgInstanceId value for the network adapter with the lowest number in the list.

11. Change the values of the interface parameters:

    11.1. Go to the registry section:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{<net_cfg_instance_id>}

    Specify <net_cfg_instance_id> is the value of the NetCfgInstanceId parameter that you saved in step 10.2.

    11.2 Change the parameter values. Correct values can be viewed in the control panel: in the top menu, click Products → Dedicated Servers → Server page → Network tab → click the desired subnet.

    • IPAddress - public IP address of the server, e.g. 203.0.113.0;
    • SubnetMask - subnet mask;
    • DefaultGateway - default gateway;
    • EnableDHCP - enter 0 if you are not using DHCP, if you are. 1.

12. Configure the remote connection in Server Manager.

13. Synchronize the time with an external NTP server.

5. Change the upload template

Revert to the previous server boot pattern or reboot the server from the OS. When you reboot the server from the OS, the boot template will automatically change to the one that was set before the server booted in Rescue mode. the server booted in Rescue mode.