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Connecting to a Windows VM via RDP

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Updated at July 31, 2026
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Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) with Network Level Authentication (NLA) is enabled for images of all versions and editions of the Windows operating system prepared for Yandex Cloud. Before connecting to a VM, make sure that NLA is enabled in your desktop settings.

You can connect to a VM with the RUNNING status over RDP. It may take some time for all services to initialize after the VM starts. If you get a connection error, try again in a few minutes.

Virtual machine security groups must allow incoming TCP traffic to port 3389.

To connect using RDP, specify the public IP address or the FQDN of the VM. You can use FQDN to access a VM from another Yandex Cloud VM if both are connected to the same network. To get the IP address and FQDN, use the management console: go to the Network section on the VM page.

To connect to the VM:

  1. Click Start.
  2. In the search box, type Remote desktop connection and select the relevant item.
  3. In the Remote desktop connection window, enter the public IP address of the VM to connect to in the Computer field.
  4. Click Connect.
  5. Specify the account settings:
    • User name: Administrator.
    • Password.
  6. Click OK.

Note

It usually takes up to 6 minutes to start a VM and initialize Remote Desktop (RDP). In rare cases, loading may take much longer than the time specified. For example, when using:

  1. Install and run Microsoft Remote Desktop (official free RDP client for Mac).
  2. Click → Add PC.
  3. In the Add PC dialog, enter the public IP address of the virtual machine to connect to in the PC name field.
  4. In the User account field, select Add User Account.
  5. In the Add a User Account dialog, specify the account settings:
    • Username: Administrator.
    • Password.
  6. Click Add twice.
  7. Connect to the remote machine by double-clicking the connection you created in the main Microsoft Remote Desktop window.

Useful links

  1. Install Remmina (a free RDP client for Linux) using the commands:

    sudo apt-add-repository ppa:remmina-ppa-team/remmina-next

    sudo apt-get update

    sudo apt-get install remmina remmina-plugin-rdp

  2. Start Remmina.

  3. Click .

  4. Fill in the Profile block as follows:

    • Name: Name for the connection.
    • Protocol: RDP - Remote Desktop Protocol.

  5. In the Basic tab specify the details for connection and authorization:

    • Server: Public IP address of the virtual machine to connect to.
    • User Name: Administrator.
    • Password.

  6. Click Save.

  7. Connect to the remote machine by double-clicking the connection you created in the quick access connection list.

Useful links

Installing Remmina on non-Ubuntu Linux distributions

What's next

Using Yandex Cloud from within a VM

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Connecting to a VM via PowerShell