Create a Windows Server VM instance in Compute Engine

Learn how to create a Windows Server virtual machine (VM) instance by using theGoogle Cloud console.


To follow step-by-step guidance for this task directly in the Google Cloud console, clickGuide me:

Guide me


Pricing

  • Windows Server images are premium images, and using them results inadditional charges.

  • Windows Server VMs are not included with theFree Trial.

Before you begin

  1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.
  2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

    Go to project selector

  3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  4. Make sure that you have the following role or roles on the project: Compute Instance Admin (v1), Compute SecurityAdmin, Service Account User, Service Usage Admin

    Check for the roles

    1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theIAM page.

      Go to IAM
    2. Select the project.
    3. In thePrincipal column, find all rows that identify you or a group that you're included in. To learn which groups you're included in, contact your administrator.

    4. For all rows that specify or include you, check theRole column to see whether the list of roles includes the required roles.

    Grant the roles

    1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theIAM page.

      Go to IAM
    2. Select the project.
    3. ClickGrant access.
    4. In theNew principals field, enter your user identifier. This is typically the email address for a Google Account.

    5. In theSelect a role list, select a role.
    6. To grant additional roles, clickAdd another role and add each additional role.
    7. ClickSave.
  5. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

    Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

    Go to project selector

  6. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

  7. Make sure that you have the following role or roles on the project: Compute Instance Admin (v1), Compute SecurityAdmin, Service Account User, Service Usage Admin

    Check for the roles

    1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theIAM page.

      Go to IAM
    2. Select the project.
    3. In thePrincipal column, find all rows that identify you or a group that you're included in. To learn which groups you're included in, contact your administrator.

    4. For all rows that specify or include you, check theRole column to see whether the list of roles includes the required roles.

    Grant the roles

    1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theIAM page.

      Go to IAM
    2. Select the project.
    3. ClickGrant access.
    4. In theNew principals field, enter your user identifier. This is typically the email address for a Google Account.

    5. In theSelect a role list, select a role.
    6. To grant additional roles, clickAdd another role and add each additional role.
    7. ClickSave.
  8. Enable the Compute Engine API.

    Enable Compute Engine API

  9. If you aren't using Windows on your local machine, install an RDP client such asChrome Remote Desktop.

Create a Windows Server VM instance

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theCreate an instance page.

    Go to Create an instance

  2. In theBoot disk section, clickChange to begin configuring your boot disk.
  3. On thePublic images tab, chooseWindows Server from theOperating system list.
  4. ChooseWindows Server 2019 Datacenter from theVersion list.
  5. ClickSelect.
  6. In theFirewall section, selectAllow HTTP traffic.
  7. To create the VM, clickCreate.

Allow a short time for the VM instance to start. After the VM instance is ready, it islisted on theVM instances page with a green status icon.

Connect to the VM instance

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theVM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

  2. Under theName column, click the name of your VM instance.

  3. Under theRemote access section, clickSet Windows password.

  4. Specify a username, then clickSet to generate a new password for thisWindows Server VM. Save the username and password so you can log into theVM.

  5. Install the Chrome Remote Desktop service on your VM.

  6. Connect to your VM instance using your choice ofgraphical orcommand linetools.

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, follow these steps.

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theVM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

  2. Click the name of the VM instance you created.

  3. At the top of the VM instance's details page, clickDelete.

What's next

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-07-09 UTC.