How to Uninstall CloudLinux (Revert to CentOS / AlmaLinux)

This guide reverts CloudLinux back to its underlying RHEL-family base — typically CentOS 7 or AlmaLinux 8 / 9 depending on which CloudLinux version was installed. The same procedure applies to all variants (CloudLinux, CloudLinux V2 / V8 / V9).

Note: Uninstalling does not cancel your billing. If you also want to cancel the license, please reply to your support ticket with the server IP — billing is handled separately.

Prerequisites

• Root SSH access to your server
• Ability to reboot the server twice — required to switch the running kernel
• A maintenance window of 30 to 60 minutes — sites will be offline during reboots
• Working backups of
  Terminal

  Copy

  /etc

  , your sites, MySQL, and any LVE-tuned configs

If you have customised LVE limits, MySQL Governor rules, or PHP Selector settings, save a copy:

cp -a /etc/container /root/cloudlinux-backup-$(date +%F)/
cp -a /etc/cl.selector /root/cloudlinux-backup-$(date +%F)/ 2>/dev/null

You won't be able to use these once CloudLinux is removed, but they're useful if you ever migrate back.

This is the official vendor command and is the only supported uninstall path:

cldeploy -c -y

What it does:

• Removes CloudLinux-specific kernels and packages
• Restores the CentOS or AlmaLinux base packages
• Updates yum repositories to point at the upstream repo
• Schedules a kernel switch on the next boot

The script takes 5 to 15 minutes. Do not interrupt it.

reboot

After it comes back up, the running kernel will be CentOS / AlmaLinux. Verify:

uname -r
# Expect something like 4.18.0-553.el8.x86_64 (AlmaLinux)
# or 3.10.0-1160.el7.x86_64 (CentOS 7)
# NOT "lve" in the kernel name

If you still see .lve. in the kernel name, the GRUB default did not switch. Run:

grubby --set-default-index=0
reboot

In some cases CloudLinux's userspace components (cagefs, lvectl, lve_setup) leave service stubs that fail at boot. If

systemctl --failed

systemctl disable cagefs
systemctl disable lvestats
yum remove cagefs lve-utils lvemanager mysql-governor -y
reboot

# OS should report CentOS or AlmaLinux, NOT CloudLinux
cat /etc/os-release | grep ^NAME

# No CloudLinux packages remaining
rpm -qa | grep -iE 'cloudlinux|lve|cagefs|lvemanager|mysql-governor'
# Output should be empty

If both checks pass, CloudLinux is fully removed.

cldeploy: command not found

CloudLinux userspace tools were partially removed. Reinstall them temporarily, then revert:

yum install cloudlinux-release cldeploy -y
cldeploy -c -y
reboot

Sites are down after the reboot

Restart the web server and database:

systemctl restart httpd mysqld     # cPanel / standalone
systemctl restart litespeed mysqld  # if LiteSpeed is still installed

If WHM accounts are missing, run

/scripts/upcp --force

MySQL won't start (mysql-governor leftover)

/usr/share/lve/dbgovernor/mysqlgovernor.py --uninstall
systemctl restart mysqld