This page explains how to create a Windows virtual machine instance in Compute Engine using the Google Cloud Platform Console.
Before you begin
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Sign in to your Google Account.
If you don't already have one, sign up for a new account.
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Select or create a GCP project.
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Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud Platform project. Learn how to enable billing.
- If you aren't using Windows on your local machine, install a third-party RDP client such as Chrome RDP by FusionLabs.
Create a virtual machine instance
- In the GCP Console, go to the VM Instances page.
- Click Create instance.
- In the Boot disk section, click Change to begin configuring your boot disk.
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On the OS images tab, choose Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter.
- Click Select.
- In the Firewall section, select Allow HTTP traffic.
- Click Create to create the instance.
Allow a short time for the instance to start. After the instance is ready, it is listed on the VM instances page with a green status icon.
Connect to your instance
- Go to the VM Instances page in the Google Cloud Platform Console.
- Under the Name column, click the name of your virtual machine instance.
- Under the Remote Access section, click the Set Windows Password button.
- Specify a username, then click Set to generate a new password for this Windows instance. Save the username and password so you can log into the instance.
- Connect to your instance using your choice of graphical or command line tools.
Clean up
To avoid incurring charges to your GCP account for the resources used in this quickstart:
- Go to the VM Instances page in the Google Cloud Platform Console.
- Click the name of the instance you created.
- At the top of the instance’s details page, click Delete.
What's next
- Set up a basic web server on your new instance.
- Deploy an ASP.NET app to your VM instance.
- Learn how to create and manage Windows instances
using the
gcloudcommand-line tool and API. - Set up Active Directory on Compute Engine.


