How to install OpenBSD on an OVH VPS
In this guide, we'll go over the procedure to install OpenBSD 7.5 onto a VPS hosted by OVH. Unfortunately, OVH only supports templates for Linux operating systems. This guide will allow you to run OpenBSD on OVH with minimal effort. Please note, this is not officially supported by OVH.
1) Install Debian 10 as the base operating system. These specific instructions will not work with Debian 11/12 or Ubuntu.
2) As the root user, we want to download the OpenBSD installer to the root directory of the Debian system by:
curl https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.5/amd64/bsd.rd --output /bsd.rd.gz && gunzip /bsd.rd.gz
3) Next, edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom and add the following:
menuentry "OpenBSD 7.5" {
set root=(hd0,msdos1)
kopenbsd /bsd.rd }
4) Now, edit /etc/default/grub and add the following:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=30 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=30 GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
5) Finally, run update-grub to update the GRUB config
update-grub
6) Now, open the KVM provided by OVH and reboot the Debian system. When you see the 30 second countdown, hit enter. You should now be able to select the OpenBSD installer.
7) Install OpenBSD as normal