Unable to connect to a new Google Compute Engine Windows instance

Question

I'm using the guide available here: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/windows-quickstart to create a Compute Engine instance. Unfortunately I cannot connect to it.

The instance is created successfully, including reseting the Windows password. But I cannot seem to login to the instance. I get the following error message:

Where can I find the log files? And how can I fix this?

Answer 1

To be able to make RDP connections to your Windows VM, you need to open the appropriate port (in this case, TCP port 3389) in the GCE firewall so that traffic can reach the instance.

There is a default default-allow-rdp firewall rule which will do it for you, assuming that your Windows VM instance has the windows tag, which you can see via the console.

You may also be able to see some debugging information via the Chrome debugging console to see if there's an issue with the Chrome RDP extension.

If you are using Windows on your desktop/laptop, you can also try connecting using the RDP button, which will download a config file which will launch with the native Windows RDP client for you to connect to your instance.