Install MT4 on a VPS
Install MT4 on a VPS in five steps: connect with Remote Desktop, download your broker's own MT4 installer inside the server, run it, log in with the account number, password and exact server name, then enable AutoTrading. The terminal keeps running on the server after you disconnect, so expert advisors stay live.
For Indian traders moving MetaTrader terminals off a home laptop onto a server that stays awake.
knowledge
- Read time
- 6 min
- Sections
- 10
- Updated
- 14 Nov 2026
- Written by
- WebJi® team
Last editorial update: 15 November 2026.
Why run MT4 or MT5 on a VPS instead of your own computer?
A trading VPS is not about speed; it is about a machine that never sleeps, updates or loses power while your expert advisor holds open positions. A laptop that sleeps, reboots for a Windows update or drops its Wi-Fi takes the EA offline with it — the VPS removes that entire class of failure.
- Uptime: the server stays awake around the clock; restarts move to a window you choose.
- Route: a data-centre line to the broker's trade server is typically shorter than a home broadband hop.
- Consistency: one terminal serves a strategy 24/5 without a screen left on in the study.
MetaQuotes develops MT5 only today, while most brokers still distribute MT4 builds. Install the build your broker gives you — its bundled server list is what makes the login screen offer the right server. Traders running automated strategies from India should also read the SEBI static IP rules for algo trading, which cover the regulatory side this page deliberately does not.
How much RAM and CPU do MT4 and MT5 terminals need?
Plan roughly 1 GB of RAM per MT4 terminal and 2 GB per MT5 terminal, because MT4 is a 32-bit application while MT5 is 64-bit and keeps more history in memory. A backtest is the workload that runs a small VPS out of RAM, not the charts themselves.
| What you will run | RAM | vCPU | Disk |
|---|---|---|---|
| One MT4 terminal, two or three charts | 2 GB | 2 | 40 GB |
| Two or three MT4 terminals | 4 GB | 2 | 60 GB |
| MT4 live plus MT5 live | 8 GB | 4 | 100 GB |
| MT5 backtests beside live terminals | 8–16 GB | 4 | 100 GB or more |
Buy the Windows licence with the plan. An unlicensed server fails Windows activation within weeks and drops into reduced mode at the worst moment.
How do you connect to a Windows VPS with Remote Desktop?
Use the Remote Desktop client already on your computer — mstsc on Windows, the Windows App on macOS — with the server IP and the Administrator password from your welcome email. Nothing gets installed on your own machine.
- On Windows press Win+R, type
mstsc, press Enter. On macOS open the Windows App, which replaced Microsoft Remote Desktop. - Enter the server IP in the Computer field; under Show Options, fill in Administrator and the password from the welcome email.
- Click Connect and accept the certificate warning — the server presents its own certificate, not one issued for the IP.
- Wait for the taskbar and desktop icons: you are now working on the server, not your PC.
A refused connection is usually a mistyped IP, an RDP port not yet open, or a password typed on the wrong keyboard layout. Send the exact error to support@webji.services rather than retrying blind.
How do you download and install MT4 inside the VPS?
Open a browser on the server itself and download MT4 from your broker's own download page, because the broker-branded installer ships with the broker's server list preloaded. A generic MetaQuotes download works, but leaves the server field empty for you to type exactly right.
- In Edge or Chrome on the VPS, go to your broker's download page and fetch the MT4 installer. If Edge warns the file is not commonly downloaded, choose Keep — that prompt reflects download reputation, not safety.
- Double-click the setup file and accept the administrator prompt if Windows shows one.
- Click Next through the wizard, keep the default folder, and note the path — typically
C:\Program Files (x86)\<BrokerName>— so you can find terminal.exe later. - Click Finish; the terminal opens and creates a demo account, useful for verifying the install before a live login.
Never take an installer from a Telegram group, a forum attachment or a file-sharing link. A tampered terminal can read your trading password on first login.
How do you log in to the trading account and switch on AutoTrading?
Log in through File → Login to Trade Account with the account number, password and the exact server name from the broker's email, then make three AutoTrading switches agree. The login is where most installs lose an evening, so read the error before changing anything.
- Login check: success shows in the bottom-right status bar — "connected" with a latency figure in milliseconds, and a login record in the Journal tab.
- Invalid account: the login number or password is wrong. No connection or a spinning icon: the server name does not match, or the port is blocked from that network.
- AutoTrading button: must be green on the toolbar; a red button blocks every expert on the terminal.
- Expert properties: on the Common tab, tick "Allow live trading"; allow DLL imports only if that specific expert needs it.
- Smiley face: the chart's top-right corner must show a smiley — a sad face means algo trading is off terminal-wide, no face at all means the expert is not attached.
If the Experts tab prints "trade is disabled", the account is still a demo or the broker has switched algo trading off for that login — both account settings, not VPS settings.
How do you keep the terminal running after you disconnect?
Close the Remote Desktop window with the X — never Start → Sign out — because closing the window disconnects the session while the terminal keeps running on the server. Signing out ends the session and takes the EA with it.
- Set Windows active hours or scheduled restarts so automatic updates cannot reboot the machine at 03:00 with positions open.
- In the power plan, set sleep and hibernate to Never on a server meant to stay awake.
- Prove it: close RDP, wait ten minutes, reconnect — the terminal should show the same connection state and the Experts log should have kept printing.
How close should the VPS be to the broker's trade server?
Latency is distance, not processor speed: under 10 ms suits scalping, 30–50 ms is fine for swing systems, and above 100 ms the fix is a different location, not more RAM. Measure before you commit to a location.
Open Command Prompt on the VPS and run ping -n 20 tradeserver.broker.com against the hostname your broker publishes. Once a terminal is logged in, MT4 shows its own latency in the bottom-right corner — compare the two figures, and pick the data-centre region that wins. The trading VPS page covers the location options in detail.
Can MT4 and MT5 run side by side on one VPS?
Yes — install each terminal as a separate program and launch both with the /portable switch so neither shares the other's data folder. Without it, both terminals write profiles into the same AppData tree and overwrite each other's settings.
To set it up: right-click terminal.exe, choose Send to → Desktop (create shortcut), open the shortcut's properties and append /portable after the quoted path in the Target field. Launch from that shortcut from then on. The resource maths stays simple — each extra terminal adds roughly 1 GB, and when the machine starts swapping, experts miss ticks while the Experts log fills with memory errors instead of trades.
What does a trading VPS cost in India?
WebJi®'s managed cloud line runs ₹5,900 a month for 2 vCPU, ₹7,900 for 4 vCPU and ₹11,900 for 8 vCPU, before 18% GST, and the KVM VPS line starts from ₹499 a month with configurations quoted per workload. A 2 vCPU cloud shape carries two or three MT4 terminals comfortably; the 4 vCPU shape is the one to pick when MT5 backtests run beside live terminals. Anything outside the published shapes is quoted by email before payment, in INR with a GST invoice.
The MT4 VPS hosting and MT5 VPS hosting pages confirm the fit for your terminal count. Support answers at support@webji.services 24/7 in Hindi and English, average first reply under 60 minutes; the office phone is not a support line.
Frequently asked questions
Should I download MT4 from MetaQuotes or from my broker?
From your broker. The broker-branded installer ships with that broker's server list loaded, so the login screen offers the right server without typing. A generic MetaQuotes download leaves the server field empty, and one mistyped character in a server name produces "no connection" errors that look like a VPS fault.
Why does MT4 show "Invalid account" after login?
"Invalid account" means the login number or password is wrong. A spinning connection icon or "no connection" instead points to a wrong server name or a blocked port on the route. Change one field at a time and retry — changing several at once hides which one fixed it.
Does MT4 keep running after I close Remote Desktop?
Yes, as long as you close the RDP window rather than signing out of Windows. Closing the window disconnects your view while the desktop session — and every program on it — keeps running on the server. Signing out terminates the session, so avoid it while expert advisors are live.
How much RAM does one MT4 terminal need on a VPS?
Plan about 1 GB per MT4 terminal with a few charts — the 32-bit program rarely passes half a gigabyte alone. MT5 is 64-bit and holds more history, so budget around 2 GB per terminal, and more again if backtests run alongside the live charts.
Is a Linux VPS enough for MetaTrader?
Not cleanly. MT4 and MT5 are Windows programs; on Linux they run only through Wine or a container, which adds breakage on every terminal update and complicates broker support tickets. A Windows VPS runs the installer natively, matches the broker's own instructions and is the shape most EAs are tested against.
Last editorial update: 15 November 2026. Prices follow the dated sources on this page; checkout confirms current charges.
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