# Reboot an instance

You can soft or hard reboot a running instance. A soft reboot attempts a graceful shut down and restart of the instance. A hard reboot power cycles the instance.

To reboot a server, use the openstack server reboot command:

    $ openstack server reboot SERVER

By default, when you reboot an instance it is a soft reboot. To perform a hard reboot, pass the `--hard` parameter as follows:

    $ openstack server reboot --hard SERVER

It is also possible to reboot a running instance into rescue mode. For example, this operation may be required if a filesystem of an instance becomes corrupted with prolonged use. See Rescue an instance for more details.

this page last updated: 2026-04-21 19:00:00

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