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How to Reinstall a Vultr Optimized Cloud Compute Instance

Updated on November 27, 2024

Reinstalling a Vultr Optimized Cloud Compute instance wipes the file system, resets all configurations and reinstalls the operating system. Any data available on the instance's file system is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered unless backed up.

Follow this guide to reinstall a Vultr Optimized Cloud Compute instance using the Vultr Customer Portal, API, or CLI.

  • Vultr Customer Portal
  • Vultr API
  • Vultr CLI

  1. Navigate to Products and click Compute.

    Navigate to Products in the Vultr Customer Portal

  2. Click your target Optimized Cloud Compute instance to open its management page.

    Open the Instance management panel

  3. Click Server Reinstall on the top-right navigation menu to reinstall the server's file system.

    Reinstall the instance

  4. Check the confirmation prompt and click Reinstall Server to apply changes.

    Apply the Reinstall server changes

  1. Send a GET request to the List Instances endpoint and note the target instance's ID.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances" \
  -X GET \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

  2. Send a POST request to the Reinstall Instance endpoint to reinstall the instance with a new hostname.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances/{instance-id}/reinstall" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "hostname" : "new_instance_hostname"
  }'

  1. List all instances in your Vultr account and note the target instance's ID.

    console 
    $ vultr-cli instance list

  2. Reinstall the instance with a new hostname.

    console 
    $ vultr-cli instance reinstall --host <new_instance_hostname> <instance_id>