How to Use Jailed SSH Access

Published June 8, 2026 · By Host Havoc Technical Support Team

Host Havoc web hosting provides jailed SSH access, giving you a sandboxed command-line environment on your hosting account. This is useful for running scripts, managing files, and performing tasks that require shell access. For file transfers you may prefer FTP instead.

Note: Jailed SSH is strictly sandboxed. You will not have access to system directories outside your own account.

Generate an SSH key in cPanel

  1. Log in to the cPanel control panel.
  2. Under the Security section, click SSH Access.
  3. Click Manage SSH Keys, then Generate a New Key.
  4. Fill in the key name and passphrase, then click Generate Key.
  5. Return to the key list, click View/Download next to your private key, and save the file to your computer.

Connect with PuTTY

  1. Open PuTTY and go to Connection > SSH > Auth > Credentials.
  2. Under Private key file for authentication, click Browse and select the private key file you downloaded.
  3. Go back to the Session panel, enter your server hostname, and click Open.
  4. When prompted, enter your cPanel username.

Tip: If your private key is in OpenSSH format (.pem), use PuTTYgen to convert it to .ppk format before loading it in PuTTY.

Changing PHP settings via SSH

Once connected, you can edit configuration files directly. However, for changing the PHP version or memory limits, the cPanel PHP Selector is simpler and does not require SSH.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied: Confirm the key was authorized in cPanel (the key must appear as Authorized in the SSH key manager). Also verify you are using the correct cPanel username, not your email address.