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How to Use the Browser Terminal
How to Use the Browser Terminal

An introduction to the Browser Terminal feature available with all our VPS plans

Austėja Baranauskaitė avatar
Written by Austėja Baranauskaitė
Updated over a week ago

Hostinger supports the Browser terminal feature on all VPS plans! Browser Terminal makes it easy and convenient to manage your VPS via terminal commands inputted and executed right from the browser.

Accessing the Browser Terminal

To access the Browser terminal, log in to hPanel, and open the VPS section. Then, select the VPS you wish to manage by clicking on the arrow > button next to it:

Accessing the VPS dashboard

Once you access the VPS management dashboard, you'll find the Browser terminal button – click on it, and a new browser tab will open:

Accessing the browser terminal of the VPS

NOTE

  • If your browser blocks pop-ups, make sure to always allow pop-ups and redirects from hpanel.hostinger.com by clicking on the pop-up blocked icon in your browser; once done, retry opening the browser terminal:

Enabling pop-ups and redirects in the browser

After a while, the page will load in a new browser tab and it will show the login prompt. Use your SSH user and password to log in as you would normally use when you log in via SSH:

Using SSH to connect to VPS

Congratulations! You can now use the browser terminal to manage your VPS.

SSH Keys on Browser Terminal

It’s worth noting that the SSH keys you've added to your VPS won't work in the browser terminal. This is because of Hostinger’s security measures to prevent unauthorized access to that. When prompted with login:, use your SSH user and password to log into the browser terminal.

Features of the Browser Terminal

On the left side of the terminal, you'll find a floating button Hide/Show the control bar:

The floating button Hide/Show the control bar in the browser terminal

You can drag this button up or down, and to the left or the right side of your browser window to reposition it. Click on the button to see more options:

The available options in the control panel of the Browser Terminal

1 – Show Extra Keys

Shows extra keys you can use. The following lists each key and what they do:

The Extra Keys feature in the Browser Terminal
  1. Ctrl toggle – simulates pressing the Ctrl button on the machine; it's a toggle option, which means that the Ctrl button will be simulated until you turn it off by clicking on this button again

  2. Alt toggle – simulates pressing the Alt button on the machine; it's a toggle option, which means that the Alt button will be simulated until you turn it off by clicking on this button again

  3. Send Tab – simulates pressing the Tab button on the machine

  4. Send Escape – simulates pressing the Esc button on the machine

  5. Send Ctrl-Alt-Del – simulates pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete combination on the machine

How does it work? If you need to input Ctrl + C to the machine, click the Ctrl button and then press C on your keyboard. The browser terminal will register it as Ctrl + C instead.

As long as the Ctrl or Alt button has a darker background (which means the option is enabled), the machine will think that you’re holding down the Ctrl and/or the Alt button, respectively 💡

2 – Power Button

Using the functions on this button will not do anything. To shut down or reboot your VPS, go to the VPS dashboard:

The Power button in the Browser Terminal

3 – Clipboard

This will display a window where it shows the contents of the clipboard (of your VPS).

The Clipboard feature in the Browser Terminal

How does it work? If you copy any text from the browser terminal, it will be displayed here. Similarly, if you put any text here, it will be stored in the VPS’s terminal and will be pasted if you use the Paste functionality of the terminal:

  • To copy text from the terminal, select (highlight) the text you wish to copy; once you release the mouse button, the text is automatically copied

  • To paste text from the clipboard, right-click on the terminal window

  • If you input text into the clipboard, make sure to click on the Clipboard icon again so that the browser saves it to the VPS’s clipboard

4 – Fullscreen

Clicking on this button will display the terminal full-screen, or not full-screen:

The Fullscreen feature in the Browser Terminal

5 – Settings

Clicking on this button will open a window with several options. Out of all the options, only three of them will be needed for your day-to-day operations:

The Settings tab in the Browser Terminal
  1. View Only – enabling this will make the terminal read-only

  2. Scaling Mode – choose the preferred option:

    1. None – to use the terminal in the server’s native display resolution

    2. Local Scaling – to scale the terminal to your browser size

    3. Remote Resizing – to scale the terminal based on the currently running command/program

  3. Automatic Reconnect – if enabled, the Browser Terminal will attempt to reconnect to the VPS after the specified Reconnect Delay (in milliseconds)

6 – Disconnect

Clicking on this button will disconnect the browser terminal from your VPS. Connect again by clicking on the Browser Terminal link from your VPS dashboard in hPanel.

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

What to Do if the Browser Terminal Loads Without Showing Any Text?

Close the browser terminal, reboot your VPS from hPanel, and reopen the browser terminal.

What to Do if I Can’t Type Anything Into the Terminal?

First, make sure the View Only option is disabled in the settings window. If it’s already disabled, refresh the page from your web browser.

Can I Use the Browser Terminal From My Mobile Device?

It’s generally not recommended to access this feature from your mobile device due to screen size restraints. If you’d like to manage your VPS from your mobile device, you can use SSH to log in to your VPS and run the commands using SSH from a mobile device client.

Why Do Strange Characters Appear on the Clipboard After I Copied Them From the Terminal?

Those characters are non-ASCII characters copied from the terminal that can’t be displayed on a text box. It might be rendered correctly if you copy and paste them somewhere else, but, as a general rule, it’s always advisable not to copy and/or paste non-ASCII characters from the browser terminal.

Learn more: SSH cheat-sheet 💡

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