Bluehost Web Hosting Help

SSH Access

SSH/Shell is not enabled by default in Legacy accounts. To enable SSH we will need you to verify your hosting purchase. To do this, please see: How to verify your hosting account. Once this is done SSH access may be enabled in the cPanel.

Bluerock accounts come with SSH/Shell enabled by default.

How to enable SSH from cPanel

Log in to your Bluehost cPanel account.
Scroll down to Security, click the SSH/Shell Access icon.
Click the Manage SSH Access button.
Choose Real Shell (Bash) from the drop-down menu.
Click the Submit button.

For additional information on using SSH please see SSH Connections

If you see the error "ERROR: You account must be verified before shell access can be enabled. Please contact our Verification Department to verify your account before continuing." you will need to contact our Verification team to verify your account purchase.

Reseller SSH Access

If you would like SSH access on any cPanel, simply edit or change the package on the cPanel to be set to have Shell Access enabled. The cPanel user will be able to access the Shell by the instructions listed above.

VPS and Dedicated Servers SSH Access

Dedicated and VPS customers automatically have root SSH access. Root shell allows you to change anyone and anything on your server.

If you would like to activate SSH on a sub-account (separate cPanel), simply access WHM with your root login and click the Manage Shell Access link. There you can enable normal and jailed shell for your clients; port 22 for normal and jailed shell.

If you have multiple cPanels which need SSH, you can activate them all within root WHM.

How to use the SSH access

You would use port 22 to connect to the server via SSH and login with username "root" and your WHM password using the directions below. If you enable shell access for individual cPanels, the SSH username and password would be the same as the cPanel username and password for those accounts.

Root SSH will allow you to access the server processes.

Connecting to your Server via SSH

See the sections for each hosting type above for specifics about which port and username to use.

Windows

To access SSH:

Download WinSCP or PuTTY.
Enter your IP address and the appropriate port number.
Login with your cPanel username and password.

(Port 2222 would be used for shared and reseller accounts, 22 is the default for dedicated & VPS. Dedicated or VPS have the option of logging in with the root WHM username and password.)

Linux

To connect run the following command from a terminal:

ssh -p 2222 cpanelusr@ip.add.re.ss

Replace cpanelusr with your username and ip.add.re.ss with your IP address.

(Port 2222 would be used for shared and reseller accounts, 22 is the default for dedicated & VPS. Dedicated or VPS have the option of logging in with the root WHM username and password.)

Mac

To open the terminal in Mac go to Applications → Utilities → Terminal

Then type in the following command:

ssh -p 2222 cpanelusr@ip.add.re.ss

Replace cpanelusr with your username and ip.add.re.ss with your IP address.

Port 2222 would be used for shared and reseller accounts. 22 is the default for dedicated & VPS accounts. Dedicated or VPS have the option of logging in with the root WHM username and password.

Knowledgebase Article