Skip to content
Hawk Host Knowledge Base

Connecting to your cloud vps using SSH with Windows

This article covers connecting to your cloud vps with SSH using Windows. For other operating systems, see the macOS or Linux guides.

All cloud vps plans include full root access via SSH over port 22 by default.

Set up your SSH client

Section titled “Set up your SSH client”

  1. Download a Windows SSH client. We recommend PuTTY as a free and easy option, but any SSH client will work.

  2. After completing your cloud vps setup, you will receive an email titled “Your Compute is Ready!” containing your compute IP and root password.

Connect to the compute

Section titled “Connect to the compute”

  1. Open PuTTY (or your preferred SSH client) and enter your cloud vps IP into the hostname/IP field.

  2. Press Enter or click the Open button. When making your first-ever SSH connection to a new compute, you will be prompted to accept the compute’s SSH fingerprint. This is normal and safe — accept the key to continue.

  3. At the login prompt, enter root as the username and then enter the root password from your welcome email. Nothing will appear on screen as you type the password — this is normal.

  4. Press Enter to complete the login. You are now connected to your cloud vps via SSH.