Connect With RDP

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) enables you to securely connect to and manage Windows VMs remotely.

Access the Instance Overview

Go to Instances and select the Windows VM.
In the VM Overview tab, find and copy the Username and Password fields.

Instance overview showing the username and password used for RDP

Launch the RDP Client

Windows: Press Win+R, type mstsc, press Enter. Or search “Remote Desktop Connection” in the Start menu.
macOS: Download Microsoft Remote Desktop from the Mac App Store.
Linux: Install Remmina (sudo apt install remmina on Ubuntu/Debian). Open Remmina and select RDP.

Launching the RDP client

Connect

Find the Public IP Address of your VM in the Overview tab.
Enter the Public IP in the RDP client.
Enter the Username and Password copied from the portal.
If a security warning appears, check “Don’t ask me again for connections to this computer” and click Yes.
Click OK or Connect.

Connecting to the VM over RDP

If RDP Does Not Connect

RDP listens on TCP port 3389 inside the VM. If the VM has a public IP assigned directly, allow TCP 3389 in the firewall rule and connect to that public IP on port 3389. If you use Port Forwarding, map the configured public TCP port to VM port 3389, allow the public port in the firewall rule, and connect to the public IP and public port.

If the firewall rule is correct but the connection still fails, use Console Access to check the Windows guest. Open an Administrator PowerShell window and run:

Set-ItemProperty `
  -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" `
  -Name "fDenyTSConnections" `
  -Value 0

Enable-NetFirewallRule -Group "@FirewallAPI.dll,-28752"

Set-Service TermService -StartupType Automatic
Set-Service UmRdpService -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service TermService
Start-Service UmRdpService

$services = Get-Service -Name TermService,UmRdpService
$services | Select-Object Name,Status,StartType

$termServicePid = (Get-CimInstance Win32_Service -Filter "Name='TermService'").ProcessId
$listeners = Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 3389 -State Listen
$listeners | Select-Object LocalAddress,LocalPort,OwningProcess

if ($services | Where-Object { $_.Status -ne 'Running' }) {
  throw "TermService and UmRdpService must both be Running"
}
if ($listeners.OwningProcess -notcontains $termServicePid) {
  throw "The port 3389 listener does not belong to TermService"
}
"RDP listener matches TermService PID $termServicePid"

Confirm that TermService and UmRdpService show Running, and that the listener check matches the TermService PID. Then retry the RDP connection.

Administrator PowerShell showing the Remote Desktop service running and port 3389 listening

Connect With RDP

Access the Instance Overview

Launch the RDP Client

Connect

If RDP Does Not Connect

See also