The VPSDime Support Account (DIME user)

What this is#

When your Windows VPS is provisioned, we add a service user to it whose username starts with DIME, followed by a string of random characters, so it looks something like DIMExxxxxx in your user list. It's mentioned in your provisioning email, and if you're auditing the accounts on your server, this is the one you didn't create. It is not an intruder, it's how our backend operates your VPS on your behalf.

The Support Account is what makes these features work:

• Self-service Administrator password resets, in the client area and the Windows Troubleshooter,
• Plan upgrades and downgrades,
• Usage statistics shown in your control panel,
• Live migrations, moving your VPS between host machines without downtime.

We never need your Administrator password for any of these while the Support Account exists.

The Console signs in as this account#

When you open the out-of-band Console for a Windows VPS from your client area, it signs you into the Support Account's session, not your Administrator session. So the desktop you see there, and its settings, wallpaper, and open windows, will look nothing like your own. That's expected, it's a different user, and it's set up this way so there's always a working way into the server when RDP or your own account isn't cooperating.

Use that session to fix whatever brought you to the Console. If you need your own environment instead, sign out (Start, user icon, Sign out) and log in as Administrator with your own password, the Console works with any local account.

Can I remove it?#

Yes. It's your server, and you're welcome to remove or disable the account. Before you do, understand what changes:

• Password resets stop being self-service. The reset options in the client area and the Windows Troubleshooter depend on the Support Account, without it they can't touch your server. If you later forget the Administrator password, recovery becomes manual work for our engineers and carries a $25 fee.
• Upgrades, downgrades, and live migrations can no longer happen automatically. Where our backend would have handled these invisibly, they turn into tickets, and may require your Administrator password.
• Usage statistics in your control panel stop updating.

If you manage your own credentials carefully (password manager, tested backups of what matters), removing the account is a legitimate hardening choice, several customers run this way. Just make that choice knowing the password-reset safety net goes with it.

If you removed it and want it back#

Open a ticket. Because the account is gone, we can't act on the server from the outside anymore, so restoring it is something we arrange together, have your Administrator password ready.

A note on hardening#

Auditing the accounts on your server is good practice, and this page exists so the audit doesn't end with deleting ours by accident. If you keep the account, leave it as provisioned, changing its group memberships or rights can break the same features as removing it. Put your hardening effort into RDP protection and firewall rules instead, that's where Windows VPS attacks actually arrive.

Still need help?#

You can open a support ticket. So we can help on the first reply, it's worth mentioning:

• the VPS hostname or IP,
• whether the DIME-prefixed user still exists on the server (Computer Management, Local Users and Groups),
• what you were trying to do when something failed (password reset, upgrade, statistics).

Related questions#

• "There's a user starting with DIME and random letters on my Windows VPS, what is it?"
• "Can I delete the VPSDime service account?"
• "Why doesn't the password reset in the client area work anymore?"
• "Is there a fee for resetting my Administrator password manually?"
• "Why did my control panel usage statistics stop updating?"
• "Why does the Console show a different desktop than my RDP session?"
• "The Console logged me in as some other user, is that normal?"