UniFi – Login with SSH (Advanced)

We do not recommend using SSH unless instructed by one of our Support Engineers as part of advanced troubleshooting. Inexperienced users risk making changes that may degrade network performance, or even worse, completely break your deployment. Proceed with caution.

Requirements

1. You are connected to the same local network as the device/console you plan to connect with via SSH. This may consist of using a laptop connected to the same WiFi network, or hardwired directly to the device.

2. SSH is enabled. UniFi Network devices and UniFi OS Consoles have independent SSH settings.

  • UniFi OS Consoles – Following setup, SSH is automatically disabled. It must be enabled in your UniFi OS System Settings.
  • UniFi Network Devices – Following setup, SSH is automatically enabled. The credentials consist of a random string of characters.

3. The device you are using has a command line interface (CLI) capable of establishing a Secure Shell (SSH) connection. Linux and macOS devices can use their native terminal. Windows OS requires PowerShell or PuTTY.

Establishing an SSH Connection

The format of the command used to establish an SSH connection is as follows:

ssh <username>@<ip-address>

The <username> for UniFi OS Consoles (UDM Pro / UNVR / Cloud Key) and UniFi Gateways (UXG Pro) is always ‘root’. For example, a Dream Machine Pro (gateway) with an IP address of 192.168.1.1 can be accessed as follows:

ssh root@192.168.1.1

Note: The UXG will use <username> = ‘root’, but the <password> will be the shared password set in your UniFi Network Application.

Default Credentials

Prior to setup/adoption, devices have a set of default credentials.