---
title: "Accidental Protection and locking"
description: "The difference between locking a node and turning on Accidental Protection, and which one to use for what you are guarding against."
content_type: "concept"
product: "node"
platform: "MyAccount"
url: "/myaccount/node/concepts/accidental-protection-and-locking/"
---

# Accidental Protection and locking

A node has two independent ways to guard it against an accidental change. Locking blocks a
wide set of actions at once; Accidental Protection specifically guards against the node being
deleted. Turn on the one that matches what you are protecting against.

## What locking blocks

**Lock Node** disables **Save Image**, **Start**/**Power off**, **Delete**, **Reboot**,
**Reinstall**, plan changes, committed settings, IPv6 attach and detach, and moving the node to
another project. It also stops scheduled node and volume snapshots from running. You can still reach
a locked node over SSH or VNC, and any service it is already publishing to the internet stays
reachable. Locking holds the node's configuration in the portal and leaves its network traffic as it
is. Turning locking off brings all of it back.

## What Accidental Protection blocks

Turning on Accidental Protection stops the node from being deleted or reinstalled, the two actions
that erase everything on it. Turning it on or off is a quick change, and the node keeps its current
power state.

## Which one to turn on

Locking and Accidental Protection both keep a node from being deleted. Turn on Accidental Protection
when losing the node to a delete or a reinstall is the one risk you want to close. Everything else
about it, resizing, snapshots, moving it, still needs to stay open. Turn on locking when you want
the node left alone entirely: no plan changes, snapshots, image saves, or anything else. It still
answers SSH, VNC, and whatever it is already serving.