SSH and getting help

If something is broken and you want help on Discord, SSH access and a proper log dump will get you a real answer much faster. This page covers both.

SSH availability by distro

Distro	SSH on by default	Root login	Password login
Ubuntu 26.04	Yes	No (use your user and sudo)	Yes
Arch	Yes	No	Yes
CachyOS	Yes	No	Yes
Fedora	Yes	No	Yes
Debian 12	No: disabled by default because the default credentials are public	No	Yes
Proxmox VE	Yes	Yes (root@pam, headless hypervisor)	Yes
PS5 Bazzite Deck	Yes	No (user ps5, password ps5: change it!)	Yes

On Debian, enable SSH yourself once you reach the desktop:

sudo systemctl enable --now ssh.service

On every other distro it is already running: log in with the user account you created on first boot.

Find your PS5's IP address

On the PS5, open a terminal and run:

ip -brief a

Look for an interface that is UP and has an address in your local network range (wlp* for Wi-Fi, enp* for Ethernet).

No display? Check your router's list of DHCP clients for a device named after your distro (for example ubuntu or archlinux).

Connect over SSH

ssh <your-username>@<ps5-ip>

Accept the host key prompt the first time you connect. From here you can troubleshoot even if the display is black, see Black screen, but SSH works.

Collect logs for a bug report

PS5 Bazzite Deck

Run ps5-report instead: it collects your hardware details and the relevant logs into one file. Ask in #bazzite-problems on the Bazzite Deck Discord. For display problems, see Reporting a display problem.

Before posting on Discord, collect everything relevant in one go:

{
  echo "=== uname ==="; uname -a
  echo "=== distro ==="; cat /etc/os-release
  echo "=== cmdline ==="; cat /proc/cmdline
  echo "=== lspci ==="; lspci -nn
  echo "=== dmesg ==="; dmesg
  echo "=== journal (this boot) ==="; journalctl -b --no-pager
  echo "=== amdgpu firmware ==="; ls /lib/firmware/amdgpu/
  echo "=== loaded modules ==="; lsmod
} > ps5-log-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M).txt 2>&1

Copy the file to your PC with scp:

scp <user>@<ps5-ip>:ps5-log-*.txt .

Post the file on Discord (or upload it to a paste service and share the link), together with:

• what you expected to happen and what actually happened,

• your distro, kernel version (uname -r) and PS5 firmware version,

• for display problems, your monitor and cable. Include the EDID if asked:

  cat /sys/class/drm/card*/card*-*/edid > edid.bin

tip

Vague reports without logs are the number one reason people don't get help quickly.