In order to make a standard OpenVZ OS image minimal you need to follow these instructions:

Install the standard OS from the client area
Login to the VPS SSH and execute one of the following commands (depending on your OS):

CentOS 6 64-bit

yum remove acl apr apr-util apr-util-ldap aspell attr authconfig avahi-libs bind bind-libs bzip2 centos-indexhtml cronie cronie-noanacron crontabs cups-libs cvs cyrus-sasl dhclient dhcp-common elfutils fetchmail finger finger-server ftp gettext gnutls gpg-pubkey-c105b9de gpm-libs hesiod httpd httpd-tools iptables-ipv6 jwhois libcap-ng libgomp libgssglue libjpeg-turbo libpcap libpng libtalloc libtdb libtevent libtiff libtirpc lm_sensors-libs lsof lynx m4 mailcap mailx man man-pages mlocate ncompress net-snmp net-snmp-libs net-snmp-utils newt newt-python nscd ntsysv perl perl-Module-Pluggable perl-Pod-Escapes perl-Pod-Simple perl-libs perl-version portreserve procmail rpcbind rsync samba-client samba-common samba-winbind samba-winbind-clients screen sendmail sendmail-cf setuptool slang stunnel sudo talk talk-server tcpdump tcsh telnet time traceroute unzip usermode vim-common vim-enhanced which xinetd xz xz-lzma-compat -y; yum clean all

CentOS 7 64-bit

For CentOS 7 64-bit, login to the VPS SSH and execute the following command:

yum remove tcpdump mailx stunnel vim-enhanced vim-filesystem elfutils ntsysv bzip2 lsof traceroute telnet ethtool man-pages libtevent httpd bind-libs-lite apr hunspell apr-util libldb slang libss make libselinux-utils procmail gpm-libs libpcap json-c dhcp-common pytalloc policycoreutils usermode centos-logos cups-libs samba-libs cronie-noanacron libsmbclient cyrus-sasl libpipeline libaio rsyslog sendmail-cf samba-client rpcbind nscd talk-server setuptool screen sudo tcsh fetchmail mailcap hunspell-en ftp attr unzip time talk ncompress bind-license bind-libs libtalloc httpd-tools libtdb bind hunspell-en-US hesiod newt hunspell-en-GB avahi-libs which m4 vim-common finger dhcp-libs newt-python logrotate openssl libwbclient libtirpc samba-common crontabs cronie sendmail libestr man-db xinetd dhclient iptables-services mlocate finger-server rsync authconfig e2fsprogs -y; yum clean all

Debian 7 64-bit

If you are using Debian 7 64-bit, login to your VPS SSH and type in the following command:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg:Options:="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg:Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2.2-common apt-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bzip2 ca-certificates console-common console-data cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.1-util debconf-utils debian-keyring dialog expat fetchmail file finger fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-freefont-ttf ftp gettext groff-base info install-info iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common kbd ldap-utils less libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap libapt-inst1.5:amd64 libavahi-client3:amd64 libavahi-common-data:amd64 libavahi-common3:amd64 libbind9-80 libcap2:amd64 libcrack2 libcroco3:amd64 libcups2:amd64 libdns88 libfile-copy-recursive-perl libfontconfig1:amd64 libfreetype6:amd64 libgeoip1 libgettextpo0:amd64 libgomp1:amd64 libgssglue1:amd64 libisc84 libisccc80 libisccfg82 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1:amd64 libltdl7:amd64 liblwres80 libmagic1:amd64 libodbc1:amd64 libpaper1:amd64 libpcap0.8:amd64 libperl5.14 libpipeline1:amd64 libpopt0:amd64 libsensors4:amd64 libsnmp-base libsnmp15 libsysfs2:amd64 libtalloc2:amd64 libtdb1:amd64 libtirpc1:amd64 libunistring0:amd64 libwbclient0:amd64 libxml2:amd64 locales-all logrotate lynx lynx-cur m4 make man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools ncurses-term odbcinst odbcinst1debian2:amd64 openssl openssl-blacklist procmail psutils pwgen rmail rpcbind rsync sasl2-bin screen sendmail sendmail-base sendmail-bin sendmail-cf sendmail-doc sensible-mda sharutils snmp ssl-cert sudo syslinux syslinux-common tcpdump tcsh telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd; apt-get clean; apt-get remove --purge -y sendmail-base

Debian 8 64-bit

Debian 8 64-bit users need to login to their VPS SSH and type in this command:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg:Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg:Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apt-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bzip2 ca-certificates cifs-utils console-common console-data cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.3-util debconf-utils dh-python dialog expat fetchmail file finger fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu fonts-dejavu-core fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-freefont-ttf ftp gettext groff-base info iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common kbd ldap-utils less libapr1:amd64 libaprutil1:amd64 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3:amd64 libaprutil1-ldap:amd64 libapt-inst1.5:amd64 libasn1-8-heimdal:amd64 libavahi-client3:amd64 libavahi-common-data:amd64 libavahi-common3:amd64 libbind9-90 libcap-ng0:amd64 libcrack2:amd64 libcroco3:amd64 libcups2:amd64 libdns-export100 libdns100 libfile-copy-recursive-perl libfontconfig1:amd64 libfreetype6:amd64 libgeoip1:amd64 libglib2.0-0:amd64 libgomp1:amd64 libgssapi3-heimdal:amd64 libhcrypto4-heimdal:amd64 libhdb9-heimdal:amd64 libheimbase1-heimdal:amd64 libheimntlm0-heimdal:amd64 libhx509-5-heimdal:amd64 libirs-export91 libisc-export95 libisc95 libisccc90 libisccfg-export90 libisccfg90 libkdc2-heimdal:amd64 libkrb5-26-heimdal:amd64 libldb1:amd64 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1:amd64 libltdl7:amd64 liblua5.1-0:amd64 liblwres90 libmagic1:amd64 libmpdec2:amd64 libntdb1:amd64 libodbc1:amd64 libpaper1:amd64 libpcap0.8:amd64 libpci3:amd64 libperl5.20 libpipeline1:amd64 libpng12-0:amd64 libpopt0:amd64 libpython2.7:amd64 libpython3-stdlib:amd64 libpython3.4-stdlib:amd64 libroken18-heimdal:amd64 libsensors4:amd64 libsnmp-base libsnmp30:amd64 libtalloc2:amd64 libtdb1:amd64 libtevent0:amd64 libunistring0:amd64 libwbclient0:amd64 libwind0-heimdal:amd64 libxml2:amd64 logrotate lynx lynx-cur m4 make man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools ncurses-term odbcinst odbcinst1debian2:amd64 openssl openssl-blacklist patch postfix procmail psutils pwgen python-crypto python-dnspython python-ldb python-ntdb python-samba python-talloc python-tdb python3 python3-minimal python3.4 rpcbind rsync samba-common samba-common-bin samba-dsdb-modules samba-libs:amd64 sasl2-bin screen sharutils snmp ssl-cert sudo syslinux tcpdump tcsh tdb-tools telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd

Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit

Those that use Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit, need to login to their VPS SSH and execute the following:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg:Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg:Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2.2-common apt-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bzip2 ca-certificates console-common console-data console-tools console-tools-dev cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.1-util debconf-utils defoma expat fetchmail file finger fontconfig fontconfig-config ftp gettext groff-base info install-info iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common klogd ldap-utils less libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap libapt-inst1.4 libavahi-client3 libavahi-common-data libavahi-common3 libbind9-80 libcap2 libclass-isa-perl libconsole libcrack2 libcroco3 libcups2 libdb4.8 libdns81 libfile-copy-recursive-perl libfontconfig1 libfreetype6 libgdbm3 libgeoip1 libgettextpo0 libgomp1 libgssglue1 libisc83 libisccc80 libisccfg82 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1 libltdl7 liblwres80 libmagic1 libnewt0.52 libodbc1 libpaper1 libpcap0.8 libperl5.14 libpipeline1 libpopt0 libsensors4 libsnmp-base libsnmp15 libswitch-perl libsysfs2 libtalloc2 libtdb1 libtirpc1 libunistring0 libwbclient0 libxml2 logrotate lynx lynx-cur m4 make man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools ncurses-term odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 openssl openssl-blacklist perl perl-modules procmail psutils pwgen rmail rpcbind rsync sasl2-bin screen sendmail sendmail-base sendmail-bin sendmail-cf sendmail-doc sensible-mda sharutils snmp ssl-cert sudo sysklogd syslinux syslinux-common tcpdump tcsh telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whiptail whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd; apt-get clean

Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit

On Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit, login to the VPS SSH and write in this command:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apt-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bzip2 ca-certificates console-common console-data console-setup cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.3-util debconf-utils dialog expat fetchmail file finger fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu fonts-dejavu-core fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-freefont-ttf ftp gettext groff-base info iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common kbd keyboard-configuration ldap-utils less libapr1:amd64 libaprutil1:amd64 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3:amd64 libaprutil1-ldap:amd64 libapt-inst1.5:amd64 libavahi-client3:amd64 libavahi-common-data:amd64 libavahi-common3:amd64 libbind9-90 libbsd0:amd64 libcrack2:amd64 libcroco3:amd64 libcups2:amd64 libdns100 libfile-copy-recursive-perl libfontconfig1:amd64 libfreetype6:amd64 libgeoip1:amd64 libglib2.0-0:amd64 libgmp10:amd64 libgomp1:amd64 libgssglue1:amd64 libhdb9-heimdal:amd64 libisc95 libisccc90 libisccfg90 libkdc2-heimdal:amd64 libldb1:amd64 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1:amd64 libltdl7:amd64 liblwres90 libmagic1:amd64 libntdb1:amd64 libodbc1:amd64 libpaper1:amd64 libpcap0.8:amd64 libperl5.18 libpipeline1:amd64 libpopt0:amd64 libpython-stdlib:amd64 libsensors4:amd64 libsnmp-base libsnmp30:amd64 libtalloc2:amd64 libtdb1:amd64 libtevent0:amd64 libtirpc1:amd64 libunistring0:amd64 libwbclient0:amd64 libxml2:amd64 logrotate lynx lynx-cur m4 make man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools ncurses-term odbcinst odbcinst1debian2:amd64 openssl openssl-blacklist postfix procmail psutils pwgen python python-crypto python-dnspython python-ldb python-minimal python-ntdb python-talloc python-tdb python2.7 python2.7-minimal rpcbind rsync sasl2-bin screen sharutils snmp ssl-cert sudo syslinux syslinux-common tcpdump tcsh tdb-tools telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd xkb-data; apt-get clean

Ubuntu 15.04 64-bit

If you use Ubuntu 15.04 64-bit, login to your VPS SSH and use:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apt-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bsdutils bzip2 ca-certificates cifs-utils console-common console-data console-setup console-setup-linux cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.3-util debconf-utils dialog expat fetchmail file finger fontconfig fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu fonts-dejavu-core fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-freefont-ttf ftp gettext groff-base info iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common kbd keyboard-configuration ldap-utils less libapr1:amd64 libaprutil1:amd64 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3:amd64 libaprutil1-ldap:amd64 libapt-inst1.5:amd64 libavahi-client3:amd64 libavahi-common-data:amd64 libavahi-common3:amd64 libbind9-90 libbsd0:amd64 libcrack2:amd64 libcroco3:amd64 libcups2:amd64 libdns-export100 libdns100 libfile-copy-recursive-perl libfontconfig1:amd64 libfreetype6:amd64 libgeoip1:amd64 libglib2.0-0:amd64 libgomp1:amd64 libhdb9-heimdal:amd64 libicu52:amd64 libirs-export91 libisc-export95 libisc95 libisccc90 libisccfg-export90 libisccfg90 libkdc2-heimdal:amd64 libldb1:amd64 liblockfile-bin liblockfile1:amd64 libltdl7:amd64 liblua5.1-0:amd64 liblwres90 libmagic1:amd64 libntdb1:amd64 libodbc1:amd64 libpaper1:amd64 libpcap0.8:amd64 libperl5.20 libpipeline1:amd64 libpopt0:amd64 libpython-stdlib:amd64 libsensors4:amd64 libsnmp-base libsnmp30:amd64 libtalloc2:amd64 libtdb1:amd64 libtevent0:amd64 libtirpc1:amd64 libunistring0:amd64 libwbclient0:amd64 libxml2:amd64 logrotate lynx lynx-cur m4 make man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools ncurses-term odbcinst odbcinst1debian2:amd64 openssl openssl-blacklist patch postfix procmail psutils pwgen python python-crypto python-dnspython python-ldb python-minimal python-ntdb python-samba python-talloc python-tdb python2.7 python2.7-minimal rpcbind rsync samba-common samba-common-bin samba-dsdb-modules samba-libs:amd64 sasl2-bin screen sharutils snmp ssl-cert sudo syslinux tcpdump tcsh tdb-tools telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd xkb-data

Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit

For Ubuntu 16.04 64-bit operating system, login to your VPS SSH and complete as follows:

DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get remove --purge -y -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confdef" -o Dpkg::Options::="--force-confold" apache2 apache2-bin apache2-data apache2-doc apache2-utils bind9 bind9-host bind9utils libbind9-140 bind9-host bind9utils binutils bsd-mailx bsdmainutils bzip2 ca-certificates console-data cracklib-runtime cron db-util db5.3-util debconf-utils dialog expat libexpat1 fetchmail file libfile-copy-recursive-perl liblockfile-bin liblockfile1 finger fontconfig fontconfig-config libfontconfig1 fontconfig-config fonts-dejavu fonts-dejavu-core fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-dejavu-core fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-freefont-ttf ftp gettext gettext-base liblocale-gettext-perl groff-base distro-info-data info install-info procinfo iputils-arping iputils-tracepath isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common ldap-utils less libfile-copy-recursive-perl liblockfile-bin libsnmp-base logrotate lynx lynx-common m4 make makedev man-db manpages memtester mlocate mtools odbcinst odbcinst1debian2 libgnutls-openssl27 openssl openssl-blacklist openssl-blacklist postfix procmail psutils pwgen dh-python libpython-stdlib libpython2.7 libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib libpython3-stdlib libpython3.5 libpython3.5-minimal libpython3.5-stdlib python python-crypto python-dnspython python-ldb python-minimal python-samba python-talloc python-tdb python2.7 python2.7-minimal python3 python3-minimal python3.5 python3.5-minimal python-crypto python-dnspython python-ldb python-minimal python-talloc python-tdb libpython2.7 libpython2.7-minimal libpython2.7-stdlib python2.7 python2.7-minimal libpython2.7-minimal python2.7-minimal rpcbind rsync sasl2-bin screen sharutils libsnmp-base libsnmp30 snmp ssl-cert sudo syslinux tcpdump tcsh tdb-tools telnet tofrodos traceroute ttf-dejavu ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-freefont unixodbc unzip update-inetd uuid-runtime whois wide-dhcpv6-client xinetd; apt-get clean

openSuse 13.1 64-bit

If you own an openSuse 13.1 64-bit operating system, login to your VPS SSH and execute:

for i in SuSEfirewall2* aaa_base* adjtimex* apache2* aspell* autoyast2* bind* binutils* branding* bundle* ca* cantarell* checkmedia* cifs* command* cryptsetup* cups* curl* dconf* dhcp* dmraid* fetchmail* finger* fontconfig* gd* ghostscript* gio* glib* glib2* groff* gsettings* hwinfo* initviocons* keyutils* kpartx* less* libICE6* libSM6* libX11* libXau6* libXext6* libXmuu1* libXpm4* libXt6* libaio1* libapr* libapr1* libarchive13* libaspell15* libavahi* libdcerpc* libdcerpc0* libdconf1* libelf0* libenca0* libevent* libfam0* libffi4* libfreetype6* libgdbm4* libgensec0* libgio* libglib* libgmodule* libgnutls28* libgobject* libguess1-1.1-2.1.2.x86_64* libhogweed2* libicu51_2* libjasper1* libjavascriptcoregtk* libjbig2* libjpeg8* libldapcpp1* libldb1* liblua5_2* libmowgli2* libmysqlclient18* libndr* libndr0* libnetapi0* libnetpbm11* libnettle4* libp11* libparted0* libpcap1* libpci3* libpdb0* libpipeline1* libpng16* libpython2_7* librcc0* librcd0* libregistry0* libreiserfs* libsamba* libsamdb0* libsensors4* libsmbclient* libsmbclient0* libsmbconf0* libsmbldap0* libsmi* libsmi2* libsnmp30* libsoup* libsqlite3* libstorage* libstorage4* libtalloc2* libtasn1* libtdb1* libtevent* libtevent0* libtiff5* libtirpc1* libtranslate0* libwbclient0* libx86emu1* libxcb1* libyaml* libyui* libyui5* lsscsi* lvm2* lynx* m4* mailx* make* man* mdadm* mlocate* module* mtools* multipath* ncftp* ncurses* netcfg* netpbm* nfs* nfsidmap* openSUSE* openslp* p11* parted* pciutils* pkg* procmail* psmisc* psutils* pytalloc* python* rcc* release* rpcbind* rsync* ruby* ruby20* rubygem* samba* scout* screen* sendmail* shared* sharutils* snmp* sudo* syslinux* tcpdump* tcsh* telnet* time* timezone* traceroute* unzip* vim* wallpaper* which* words* xauth* xdg* xinetd* xli* yast2*; do zypper --non-interactive remove -n $i; done; zypper cc --all

Restart VPS

Note: Some operating systems (openSuse 13.01 and CentOS 7) will require you to wait for upgrade process finish in order to execute OS minimalization command.

Have any difficulties following these instructions? Got additional questions about making standard OpenVZ OS image minimal? Let us know! Our customer support team is ready to help 24/7.