Can You Change Operating Systems with VPS?

It’s relatively easy to understand how you can install whatever kind of software you want on a VPS. After all, your portion of the server is a just a small minority compared to how much server space there actually is available; but it’s completely separated by way of the virtual hypervisor, which ensures that your website won’t interfere with anybody else’s. And that theirs won’t interfere with yours either. But what about the operating system? Can you change that when everyone is essentially still sharing the same physical server?

One of the best things about a VPS is that you can customize it however you choose, because that hypervisor really will keep all of your website’s data separate from any other website that’s on that VPS. That’s not limited to software, but includes all aspects of that server – including the operating system. You can have a completely different system than another website on that same VPS, and it still won’t interfere with anybody’s site; nor does everyone need to use the same one.

This can be a particularly useful feature for those who are just starting out in web hosting and don’t know what kind of operating system they want to use. While they may choose Linux at first, due to its user-friendly interface and its low cost, they may find that they want to use different Windows scripts or email systems, and want to make a switch. When you’re using a VPS, this is fairly easy to do.

That being said, while you can change the operating system on your VPS theoretically as much as you want to, it doesn’t mean that it’s something you should do all the time. In order to change the OS, you or your web host will need to completely uninstall the system that’s currently on the VPS, re-install the new one, and wait for the new system to install. That’s a process that can take some time, and your website will be down for that entire time. For many businesses, that can mean a lot of lost profits, and a lot of lost traffic and new business.

While you can change your operating system within your VPS at any time that you wish, you should always contact your web host before doing so. Even if you plan on doing the upgrades or maintenance yourself, when performing certain functions from right within the server, you might affect some components of the server that the web host won’t be able to fix. Running it by them that you want to change your OS will help prevent any headaches or stress later on.

It is true that when you’re using a VPS, you’ll be using the same physical server that many other clients and websites are as well. However, this doesn’t mean that it should stop you from changing your operating system if that’s something you ever want to do. Being on a VPS means that you can make any changes you want, and you should take advantage of it!