How to SSH Into an Amazon Lightsail Server
Written by Gerry Manzari
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January 5, 2026
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1 min read
To connect to your Amazon Lightsail instance via SSH, you’ll need your PEM key and the server’s public IP address. If you don’t have a PEM key yet, read my tutorial on How to Download Your PEM File in AWS Lightsail.
Step 1 – Open a terminal (Windows PowerShell, macOS / Linux Terminal) and run the following SSH command:
ssh -i NameOfPEMFile.pem bitnami@IP.Address.HereStep 2 – In Powershell, you’ll want to ensure the path of your PEM file is in quotes. Example below:
ssh -i "C:\Users\YourName\My SSH Keys\lightsail-key.pem" bitnami@44.196.11.84Step 3 – You should be prompted to accept the fingerprint. Type yes to trust the server and complete the connection. Once connected, you’ll be logged into your Lightsail server as the bitnami user.
Bonus: I have a YouTube tutorial showing basic SSH commands. Go to: SSH Basics for AWS Beginners | Essential Linux Commands (EC2 & Lightsail Tutorial).