Create and manage Windows Server VMs

Windows

Compute Engine provides public images with Windows Server that you can use to create instances. For instructions on how to create a Windows Server instance with SQL Server preinstalled, see Creating SQL Server instances.

For more general information about Windows Server instances and Windows applications that you can run on Compute Engine, see Windows on Compute Engine.

Pricing

Windows Server images are premium images, and using them results in additional charges.
Windows Server VMs are not included with the Google Cloud Free Tier.

Before you begin

Enabling billing for your project.
If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:
Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:
Console

When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.
gcloud
1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
  gcloud init
  If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
  
  Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
2. Set a default region and zone.
Go

To use the Go samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.
1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
```
gcloud auth application-default login
```
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

Java

To use the Java samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

Install the Google Cloud CLI.
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
```
gcloud auth application-default login
```
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

Node.js

To use the Node.js samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

Install the Google Cloud CLI.
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
```
gcloud auth application-default login
```
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

Python

To use the Python samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

Install the Google Cloud CLI.
If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
```
gcloud auth application-default login
```
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

REST

To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

Install the Google Cloud CLI.

If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Create a Windows Server instance

To create an instance with Windows Server, specify the image family for the specific version of Windows that you need. Compute Engine offers several versions of Windows Server, most of which are available as Shielded VM images. Shielded VM images offer security features like UEFI-compliant firmware, Secure Boot, and vTPM-protected Measured Boot. For a list of the available image families, see public images.

If you need more than two concurrent remote desktop sessions, you will need to purchase Remote Desktop Session (RDS) Client Access Licenses (CALs). For more information, see License your RDS deployment with client access licenses (CALs).

Work with Microsoft Active Directory

If you plan on using Microsoft Active Directory (AD) with your new instance, make sure the instance name is no longer than 15 characters, to meet the stated maximum name length restrictions of the system.

AD uses the NetBIOS names of machines, which are generated as the instance name truncated to 15 characters. As a result, you might encounter the following error when trying to sign in as a domain user: The Security Database on the Server does not have a Computer Account for this Workstation Trust Relationship.

Create a Windows Server instance that uses an external IP to activate

This section describes how to create a Windows Server instance that has an external IP address. Your VPC network must be configured to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.

Console

To create a basic Windows VM:

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

Go to Create an instance
For Boot disk, select Change, and do the following:
1. On the Public images tab, choose a Windows Server operating system.
2. Click Select.
To create the VM, click Create.

To create a Shielded VM Windows instance, do the following:

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

Go to Create an instance
For Boot disk, select Change, and do the following:
1. On the Public images tab, choose a Windows Server operating system.
2. To save your boot disk configuration, click Select.
Optionally, to change the VM's Shielded VM settings, expand the Advanced options section. Then, do the following:
1. Expand the Security section.
2. If you want to turn off Secure Boot, clear the Turn on Secure Boot checkbox. Secure Boot helps protect your VM instances against boot-level and kernel-level malware and rootkits. For more information, see Secure Boot.
3. If you want to turn off the virtual trusted platform module (vTPM), clear the Turn on vTPM checkbox. The vTPM enables Measured Boot, which validates the VM pre-boot and boot integrity. For more information, see Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM).
  
  Important: Disabling the vTPM also disables integrity monitoring, because integrity monitoring relies on data gathered by Measured Boot.
4. If you want to turn off integrity monitoring, clear the Turn on Integrity Monitoring checkbox. Integrity monitoring lets you monitor the boot integrity of your Shielded VM VMs using Cloud Monitoring. For more information, see Integrity monitoring.
To create the VM, click Create.

gcloud

Use the compute images list command to see a list of available Windows Server images:

gcloud compute images list --project windows-cloud --no-standard-images

To determine whether an image supports Shielded VM features, run the following command, and check for UEFI_COMPATIBLE in the output:

gcloud compute images describe IMAGE_NAME --project windows-cloud

Replace IMAGE_NAME with the name of the image to check for support of Shielded VM features.

Use the compute instances create command to create a new instance and specify the image family for one of the Windows Server public images.

gcloud compute instances create INSTANCE_NAME \
    --image-project windows-cloud \
    --image-family IMAGE_FAMILY \
    --machine-type MACHINE_TYPE \
    --boot-disk-size BOOT_DISK_SIZE \
    --boot-disk-type BOOT_DISK_TYPE

Replace the following:

INSTANCE_NAME: a name for the new instance.
IMAGE_FAMILY: one of the public image families for Windows Server images.
MACHINE_TYPE: one of the available machine types.
BOOT_DISK_SIZE: the size of the boot disk in GiB. Larger disks have higher throughput.
BOOT_DISK_TYPE: the type of the boot disk for your instance, for example, hyperdisk-balanced or pd-ssd.

If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings using one of the following flags:

--no-shielded-secure-boot: Disable Secure Boot. Secure Boot helps protect your VM instances against boot-level and kernel-level malware and rootkits. For more information, see Secure Boot.
--no-shielded-vtpm: Disable the virtual trusted platform module (vTPM). The vTPM enables Measured Boot, which validates the VM pre-boot and boot integrity. For more information, see Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM).

Important: Disabling the vTPM also disables integrity monitoring, because integrity monitoring relies on data gathered by Measured Boot.
--no-shielded-integrity-monitoring: Disable integrity monitoring. Integrity monitoring lets you monitor the boot integrity of your Shielded VM instances using Cloud Monitoring. For more information, see Integrity monitoring.

The following example creates a Windows 2022 Shielded VM instance with Secure Boot disabled:

gcloud compute instances create my-instance \
    --image-family windows-2022 --image-project windows-cloud \
    --no-shielded-secure-boot

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
)

// createWndowsServerInstanceExternalIP creates a new Windows Server instance
// that has an external IP address.
func createWndowsServerInstanceExternalIP(
	w io.Writer,
	projectID, zone, instanceName, machineType, sourceImageFamily string,
) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"
	// machineType := "n1-standard-1"
	// sourceImageFamily := "windows-2022"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	disk := &computepb.AttachedDisk{
		// Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
		InitializeParams: &computepb.AttachedDiskInitializeParams{
			DiskSizeGb: proto.Int64(64),
			SourceImage: proto.String(
				fmt.Sprintf(
					"projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/%s",
					sourceImageFamily,
				),
			),
		},
		AutoDelete: proto.Bool(true),
		Boot:       proto.Bool(true),
	}

	network := &computepb.NetworkInterface{
		// If you are using a custom VPC network it must be configured
		// to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
		// https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server.
		Name: proto.String("global/networks/default"),
		AccessConfigs: []*computepb.AccessConfig{
			{
				Type: proto.String("ONE_TO_ONE_NAT"),
				Name: proto.String("External NAT"),
			},
		},
	}

	inst := &computepb.Instance{
		Name: proto.String(instanceName),
		Disks: []*computepb.AttachedDisk{
			disk,
		},
		MachineType: proto.String(fmt.Sprintf("zones/%s/machineTypes/%s", zone, machineType)),
		NetworkInterfaces: []*computepb.NetworkInterface{
			network,
		},
		// If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM,
		// you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings.
		// ShieldedInstanceConfig: &computepb.ShieldedInstanceConfig{
		// 	EnableSecureBoot: proto.Bool(true),
		// 	EnableVtpm: proto.Bool(true),
		// 	EnableIntegrityMonitoring: proto.Bool(true),
		// },
	}

	req := &computepb.InsertInstanceRequest{
		Project:          projectID,
		Zone:             zone,
		InstanceResource: inst,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Insert(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to create instance: %w", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance created\n")

	return nil
}

Java


import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AccessConfig;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDisk;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InsertInstanceRequest;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.NetworkInterface;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class CreateWindowsServerInstanceExternalIp {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    // projectId - ID or number of the project you want to use.
    String projectId = "your-google-cloud-project-id";

    // zone - Name of the zone you want to use, for example: us-west3-b
    String zone = "europe-central2-b";

    // instanceName - Name of the new machine.
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    createWindowsServerInstanceExternalIp(projectId, zone, instanceName);
  }

  // Creates a new Windows Server instance that has an external IP address.
  public static void createWindowsServerInstanceExternalIp(String projectId, String zone,
      String instanceName)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {

    // machineType - Machine type you want to create in following format:
    //  *    "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}". For example:
    //  *    "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
    //  *    You can find the list of available machine types using:
    //  *    https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/machine-types/list
    String machineType = "n1-standard-1";
    // sourceImageFamily - Name of the public image family for Windows Server or SQL Server images.
    //  *    https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images#os-compute-support
    String sourceImageFamily = "windows-2022";

    // Instantiates a client.
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      AttachedDisk attachedDisk = AttachedDisk.newBuilder()
          // Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
          .setInitializeParams(AttachedDiskInitializeParams.newBuilder()
              .setDiskSizeGb(64)
              .setSourceImage(
                  String.format("projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/%s",
                      sourceImageFamily))
              .build())
          .setAutoDelete(true)
          .setBoot(true)
          .setType(AttachedDisk.Type.PERSISTENT.toString())
          .build();

      Instance instance = Instance.newBuilder()
          .setName(instanceName)
          .setMachineType(String.format("zones/%s/machineTypes/%s", zone, machineType))
          .addDisks(attachedDisk)
          .addNetworkInterfaces(NetworkInterface.newBuilder()
              .addAccessConfigs(AccessConfig.newBuilder()
                  .setType("ONE_TO_ONE_NAT")
                  .setName("External NAT")
                  .build())
              // If you're going to use a custom VPC network, it must be configured
              // to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
              // https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server.
              .setName("global/networks/default")
              .build())
          // If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the
          // instance's Shielded VM settings.
          // .setShieldedInstanceConfig(ShieldedInstanceConfig.newBuilder()
          //    .setEnableSecureBoot(true)
          //    .setEnableVtpm(true)
          //    .setEnableIntegrityMonitoring(true)
          //    .build())
          .build();

      InsertInstanceRequest request = InsertInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(projectId)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstanceResource(instance)
          .build();

      // Wait for the operation to complete.
      Operation operation = instancesClient.insertAsync(request).get(5, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (operation.hasError()) {
        System.out.printf("Error in creating instance %s", operation.getError());
        return;
      }

      System.out.printf("Instance created %s", instanceName);
    }
  }
}

Node.js

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b';
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME';
// const machineType = 'n1-standard-1';
// const sourceImageFamily = 'windows-2022';

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function createWindowsServerInstanceExpernalIP() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [response] = await instancesClient.insert({
    instanceResource: {
      name: instanceName,
      disks: [
        {
          // Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
          initializeParams: {
            diskSizeGb: '64',
            sourceImage: `projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/${sourceImageFamily}/`,
          },
          autoDelete: true,
          boot: true,
          type: 'PERSISTENT',
        },
      ],
      machineType: `zones/${zone}/machineTypes/${machineType}`,
      networkInterfaces: [
        {
          accessConfigs: [
            {
              type: 'ONE_TO_ONE_NAT',
              name: 'External NAT',
            },
          ],
          // If you are using a custom VPC network it must be configured to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
          // https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server.
          name: 'global/networks/default',
        },
      ],
      // If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings.
      // "shieldedInstanceConfig": {
      //   "enableSecureBoot": true,
      //   "enableVtpm": true,
      //   "enableIntegrityMonitoring": true
      // },
    },
    project: projectId,
    zone,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the create operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance created.');
}

createWindowsServerInstanceExpernalIP();

Python

from __future__ import annotations

import re
import sys
from typing import Any
import warnings

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def get_image_from_family(project: str, family: str) -> compute_v1.Image:
    """
    Retrieve the newest image that is part of a given family in a project.

    Args:
        project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to get image from.
        family: name of the image family you want to get image from.

    Returns:
        An Image object.
    """
    image_client = compute_v1.ImagesClient()
    # List of public operating system (OS) images: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images/os-details
    newest_image = image_client.get_from_family(project=project, family=family)
    return newest_image


def disk_from_image(
    disk_type: str,
    disk_size_gb: int,
    boot: bool,
    source_image: str,
    auto_delete: bool = True,
) -> compute_v1.AttachedDisk:
    """
    Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. Uses an image as the
    source for the new disk.

    Args:
         disk_type: the type of disk you want to create. This value uses the following format:
            "zones/{zone}/diskTypes/(pd-standard|pd-ssd|pd-balanced|pd-extreme)".
            For example: "zones/us-west3-b/diskTypes/pd-ssd"
        disk_size_gb: size of the new disk in gigabytes
        boot: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be used as a boot disk of an instance
        source_image: source image to use when creating this disk. You must have read access to this disk. This can be one
            of the publicly available images or an image from one of your projects.
            This value uses the following format: "projects/{project_name}/global/images/{image_name}"
        auto_delete: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be deleted with the VM that uses it

    Returns:
        AttachedDisk object configured to be created using the specified image.
    """
    boot_disk = compute_v1.AttachedDisk()
    initialize_params = compute_v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams()
    initialize_params.source_image = source_image
    initialize_params.disk_size_gb = disk_size_gb
    initialize_params.disk_type = disk_type
    boot_disk.initialize_params = initialize_params
    # Remember to set auto_delete to True if you want the disk to be deleted when you delete
    # your VM instance.
    boot_disk.auto_delete = auto_delete
    boot_disk.boot = boot
    return boot_disk


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.

    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def create_instance(
    project_id: str,
    zone: str,
    instance_name: str,
    disks: list[compute_v1.AttachedDisk],
    machine_type: str = "n1-standard-1",
    network_link: str = "global/networks/default",
    subnetwork_link: str = None,
    internal_ip: str = None,
    external_access: bool = False,
    external_ipv4: str = None,
    accelerators: list[compute_v1.AcceleratorConfig] = None,
    preemptible: bool = False,
    spot: bool = False,
    instance_termination_action: str = "STOP",
    custom_hostname: str = None,
    delete_protection: bool = False,
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Send an instance creation request to the Compute Engine API and wait for it to complete.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
        disks: a list of compute_v1.AttachedDisk objects describing the disks
            you want to attach to your new instance.
        machine_type: machine type of the VM being created. This value uses the
            following format: "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}".
            For example: "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
        network_link: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
            For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
            named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
        subnetwork_link: name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
            This value uses the following format:
            "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"
        internal_ip: internal IP address you want to assign to the new instance.
            By default, a free address from the pool of available internal IP addresses of
            used subnet will be used.
        external_access: boolean flag indicating if the instance should have an external IPv4
            address assigned.
        external_ipv4: external IPv4 address to be assigned to this instance. If you specify
            an external IP address, it must live in the same region as the zone of the instance.
            This setting requires `external_access` to be set to True to work.
        accelerators: a list of AcceleratorConfig objects describing the accelerators that will
            be attached to the new instance.
        preemptible: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be preemptible
            or not. Preemptible VMs have been deprecated and you should now use Spot VMs.
        spot: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be a Spot VM or not.
        instance_termination_action: What action should be taken once a Spot VM is terminated.
            Possible values: "STOP", "DELETE"
        custom_hostname: Custom hostname of the new VM instance.
            Custom hostnames must conform to RFC 1035 requirements for valid hostnames.
        delete_protection: boolean value indicating if the new virtual machine should be
            protected against deletion or not.
    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    # Use the network interface provided in the network_link argument.
    network_interface = compute_v1.NetworkInterface()
    network_interface.network = network_link
    if subnetwork_link:
        network_interface.subnetwork = subnetwork_link

    if internal_ip:
        network_interface.network_i_p = internal_ip

    if external_access:
        access = compute_v1.AccessConfig()
        access.type_ = compute_v1.AccessConfig.Type.ONE_TO_ONE_NAT.name
        access.name = "External NAT"
        access.network_tier = access.NetworkTier.PREMIUM.name
        if external_ipv4:
            access.nat_i_p = external_ipv4
        network_interface.access_configs = [access]

    # Collect information into the Instance object.
    instance = compute_v1.Instance()
    instance.network_interfaces = [network_interface]
    instance.name = instance_name
    instance.disks = disks
    if re.match(r"^zones/[a-z\d\-]+/machineTypes/[a-z\d\-]+$", machine_type):
        instance.machine_type = machine_type
    else:
        instance.machine_type = f"zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{machine_type}"

    instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
    if accelerators:
        instance.guest_accelerators = accelerators
        instance.scheduling.on_host_maintenance = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.OnHostMaintenance.TERMINATE.name
        )

    if preemptible:
        # Set the preemptible setting
        warnings.warn(
            "Preemptible VMs are being replaced by Spot VMs.", DeprecationWarning
        )
        instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
        instance.scheduling.preemptible = True

    if spot:
        # Set the Spot VM setting
        instance.scheduling.provisioning_model = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.ProvisioningModel.SPOT.name
        )
        instance.scheduling.instance_termination_action = instance_termination_action

    if custom_hostname is not None:
        # Set the custom hostname for the instance
        instance.hostname = custom_hostname

    if delete_protection:
        # Set the delete protection bit
        instance.deletion_protection = True

    # Prepare the request to insert an instance.
    request = compute_v1.InsertInstanceRequest()
    request.zone = zone
    request.project = project_id
    request.instance_resource = instance

    # Wait for the create operation to complete.
    print(f"Creating the {instance_name} instance in {zone}...")

    operation = instance_client.insert(request=request)

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance creation")

    print(f"Instance {instance_name} created.")
    return instance_client.get(project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name)


def create_windows_instance(
    project_id: str,
    zone: str,
    instance_name: str,
    machine_type: str,
    source_image_family: str = "windows-2022",
    network_link: str = "global/networks/default",
    subnetwork_link: str | None = None,
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Creates a new Windows Server instance that has only an internal IP address.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
        machine_type: machine type you want to create in following format:
            "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}". For example:
            "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
            You can find the list of available machine types using:
            https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/machine-types/list
        source_image_family: name of the public image family for Windows Server or SQL Server images.
            https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images#os-compute-support
        network_link: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
            For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
            named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
        subnetwork_link: name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
            This value uses the following format:
           "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"

    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    if subnetwork_link is None:
        subnetwork_link = f"regions/{zone}/subnetworks/default"

    base_image = get_image_from_family(
        project="windows-cloud", family=source_image_family
    )
    disk_type = f"zones/{zone}/diskTypes/pd-standard"
    disks = [disk_from_image(disk_type, 100, True, base_image.self_link, True)]

    # You must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network
    # to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
    # More information about access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server

    # Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network
    # that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.
    # More information about Private Google Access: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/configure-private-google-access#enabling

    instance = create_instance(
        project_id,
        zone,
        instance_name,
        disks,
        machine_type=machine_type,
        network_link=network_link,
        subnetwork_link=subnetwork_link,
        external_access=True,  # Set this to False to disable external IP for your instance
    )
    return instance

REST

To create an instance with the API, include the initializeParams property in your instance creation request and specify a Windows image. For example, your request body might look like the following:

instance = {
  "name": "INSTANCE_NAME",
  "machineType": "zones/ZONE/machineTypes/MACHINE_TYPE",
  "disks": [{
      "boot": "true",
      "type": "PERSISTENT",
      "initializeParams": {
         "diskName": "DISK_NAME",
         "sourceImage": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/IMAGE_FAMILY",
         "diskSizeGb": "BOOT_DISK_SIZE",
         "diskType": "BOOT_DISK_TYPE",
       }
    }],
  "networkInterfaces": [{
    "accessConfigs": [{
      "type": "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT",
      "name": "External NAT"
     }],
    "network": "global/networks/default"
  }],
  "serviceAccounts": [{
       "email": DEFAULT_SERVICE_EMAIL,
       "scopes": DEFAULT_SCOPES
  }]
}

Replace the following placeholders with valid values:

INSTANCE_NAME: the name for the new instance.
IMAGE_FAMILY: one of the public image families for Windows Server or SQL Server images.
ZONE: the zone for this instance.
MACHINE_TYPE: one of the available machine types.
BOOT_DISK_SIZE: the size of the boot disk in GiB. Larger disks have higher throughput.
BOOT_DISK_TYPE: the type of the boot disk for your instance, for example, hyperdisk-balanced or pd-ssd.

If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings by using the following boolean request body items:

enableSecureBoot: Enable or disable Secure Boot. Secure Boot helps protect your VM instances against boot-level and kernel-level malware and rootkits. For more information, see Secure Boot.
enableVtpm: Enable or disable the virtual trusted platform module (vTPM). The vTPM enables Measured Boot, which validates the VM pre-boot and boot integrity. For more information, see Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM).

Important: Disabling the vTPM also disables integrity monitoring, because integrity monitoring relies on data gathered by Measured Boot.
enableIntegrityMonitoring: Enable or disable integrity monitoring. Integrity monitoring lets you monitor and verify the runtime boot integrity of your Shielded VM instances using Cloud Monitoring reports. For more information, see Integrity monitoring.

For more information about creating an instance, read the instances.insert() method documentation.

After you create your Windows or SQL Server instance, set the initial password for the instance so that you can connect to the instance through RDP.

Additionally, you can join the VM to a Managed Microsoft AD domain either while creating the VM or after creating the VM. For more information, see Join a Windows VM automatically to a domain).

Create a Windows Server instance that uses an internal IP address to activate

Before you can create a Windows Server instance that has only an internal IP address, you must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com. Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.

gcloud

When you create a new instance by using the gcloud CLI, you can use the --no-address flag to ensure that it is not assigned an external IP address:

gcloud compute instances create INSTANCE_NAME --network NETWORK_NAME \
 --subnet SUBNET_NAME \
 --no-address \
 --zone ZONE \
 --image-project windows-cloud \
 --image-family IMAGE_FAMILY \
 --machine-type MACHINE_TYPE \
 --boot-disk-size BOOT_DISK_SIZE \
 --boot-disk-type BOOT_DISK_TYPE

Replace the following placeholders with valid values:

INSTANCE_NAME: a name for the new instance.
SUBNET_NAME: the name of the subnet in the VPC network that the instance will use. The subnet must be in the same region as the zone that you choose for the instance.
IMAGE_FAMILY: one of the public image families for Windows Server images.
MACHINE_TYPE: one of the available machine types.
BOOT_DISK_SIZE: the size of the boot disk in GiB. Larger disks have higher throughput.
BOOT_DISK_TYPE: the type of the boot disk for your instance. For example, hyperdisk-balanced or pd-ssd.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
)

// createWndowsServerInstanceInternalIP creates a new Windows Server instance
// that has only an internal IP address.
func createWndowsServerInstanceInternalIP(
	w io.Writer,
	projectID, zone, instanceName, machineType, sourceImageFamily, networkLink, subnetworkLink string,
) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"
	// machineType := "n1-standard-1"
	// sourceImageFamily := "windows-2022"
	// networkLink := "global/networks/default"
	// subnetworkLink := "regions/europe-central2/subnetworks/default"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	disk := &computepb.AttachedDisk{
		// Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
		InitializeParams: &computepb.AttachedDiskInitializeParams{
			DiskSizeGb: proto.Int64(64),
			SourceImage: proto.String(
				fmt.Sprintf(
					"projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/%s",
					sourceImageFamily,
				),
			),
		},
		AutoDelete: proto.Bool(true),
		Boot:       proto.Bool(true),
	}

	network := &computepb.NetworkInterface{
		// You must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network
		// to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
		// More information about access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com:
		// https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server

		// Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network
		// that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.
		// More information about Private Google Access:
		// https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/configure-private-google-access#enabling
		Name:       proto.String(networkLink),
		Subnetwork: proto.String(subnetworkLink),
	}

	inst := &computepb.Instance{
		Name: proto.String(instanceName),
		Disks: []*computepb.AttachedDisk{
			disk,
		},
		MachineType: proto.String(fmt.Sprintf("zones/%s/machineTypes/%s", zone, machineType)),
		NetworkInterfaces: []*computepb.NetworkInterface{
			network,
		},
		// If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM,
		// you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings.
		// ShieldedInstanceConfig: &computepb.ShieldedInstanceConfig{
		// 	EnableSecureBoot: proto.Bool(true),
		// 	EnableVtpm: proto.Bool(true),
		// 	EnableIntegrityMonitoring: proto.Bool(true),
		// },
	}

	req := &computepb.InsertInstanceRequest{
		Project:          projectID,
		Zone:             zone,
		InstanceResource: inst,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Insert(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to create instance: %w", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance created\n")

	return nil
}

Java


import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDisk;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InsertInstanceRequest;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.NetworkInterface;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class CreateWindowsServerInstanceInternalIp {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    // projectId - ID or number of the project you want to use.
    String projectId = "your-google-cloud-project-id";

    // zone - Name of the zone you want to use, for example: us-west3-b
    String zone = "europe-central2-b";

    // instanceName - Name of the new machine.
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    // networkLink - Name of the network you want the new instance to use.
    //  *   For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
    //  *   named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
    String networkLink = "global/networks/default";

    // subnetworkLink - Name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
    //  *   This value uses the following format:
    //  *   "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"
    String subnetworkLink = "regions/europe-central2/subnetworks/default";

    createWindowsServerInstanceInternalIp(projectId, zone, instanceName, networkLink,
        subnetworkLink);
  }

  // Creates a new Windows Server instance that has only an internal IP address.
  public static void createWindowsServerInstanceInternalIp(String projectId, String zone,
      String instanceName, String networkLink, String subnetworkLink)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {

    // machineType - Machine type you want to create in following format:
    //  *    "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}". For example:
    //  *    "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
    //  *    You can find the list of available machine types using:
    //  *    https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/machine-types/list
    String machineType = "n1-standard-1";
    // sourceImageFamily - Name of the public image family for Windows Server or SQL Server images.
    //  *    https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images#os-compute-support
    String sourceImageFamily = "windows-2022";

    // Instantiates a client.
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      AttachedDisk attachedDisk = AttachedDisk.newBuilder()
          // Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
          .setInitializeParams(AttachedDiskInitializeParams.newBuilder()
              .setDiskSizeGb(64)
              .setSourceImage(
                  String.format("projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/%s",
                      sourceImageFamily))
              .build())
          .setAutoDelete(true)
          .setBoot(true)
          .setType(AttachedDisk.Type.PERSISTENT.toString())
          .build();

      Instance instance = Instance.newBuilder()
          .setName(instanceName)
          .setMachineType(String.format("zones/%s/machineTypes/%s", zone, machineType))
          .addDisks(attachedDisk)
          .addNetworkInterfaces(NetworkInterface.newBuilder()
              // You must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network
              // to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
              // More information about access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server

              // Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network
              // that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.
              // More information about Private Google Access: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/configure-private-google-access#enabling
              .setName(networkLink)
              .setSubnetwork(subnetworkLink)
              .build())
          // If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the
          // instance's Shielded VM settings.
          // .setShieldedInstanceConfig(ShieldedInstanceConfig.newBuilder()
          //    .setEnableSecureBoot(true)
          //    .setEnableVtpm(true)
          //    .setEnableIntegrityMonitoring(true)
          //    .build())
          .build();

      InsertInstanceRequest request = InsertInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(projectId)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstanceResource(instance)
          .build();

      // Wait for the operation to complete.
      Operation operation = instancesClient.insertAsync(request).get(5, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (operation.hasError()) {
        System.out.printf("Error in creating instance %s", operation.getError());
        return;
      }

      System.out.printf("Instance created %s", instanceName);
    }
  }
}

Node.js

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b';
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME';
// const machineType = 'n1-standard-1';
// const sourceImageFamily = 'windows-2022';
// const networkLink = 'global/networks/default';
// const subnetworkLink = 'regions/europe-central2/subnetworks/default';

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function createWindowsServerInstanceInternalIP() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [response] = await instancesClient.insert({
    instanceResource: {
      name: instanceName,
      disks: [
        {
          // Describe the size and source image of the boot disk to attach to the instance.
          initializeParams: {
            diskSizeGb: '64',
            sourceImage: `projects/windows-cloud/global/images/family/${sourceImageFamily}/`,
          },
          autoDelete: true,
          boot: true,
          type: 'PERSISTENT',
        },
      ],
      machineType: `zones/${zone}/machineTypes/${machineType}`,
      networkInterfaces: [
        {
          // You must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network
          // to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
          // More information about access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server

          // Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network
          // that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.
          // More information about Private Google Access: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/configure-private-google-access#enabling
          name: networkLink,
          subnetwork: subnetworkLink,
        },
      ],
      // If you chose an image that supports Shielded VM, you can optionally change the instance's Shielded VM settings.
      // "shieldedInstanceConfig": {
      //   "enableSecureBoot": true,
      //   "enableVtpm": true,
      //   "enableIntegrityMonitoring": true
      // },
    },
    project: projectId,
    zone,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the create operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance created.');
}

createWindowsServerInstanceInternalIP();

Python

from __future__ import annotations

import re
import sys
from typing import Any
import warnings

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def get_image_from_family(project: str, family: str) -> compute_v1.Image:
    """
    Retrieve the newest image that is part of a given family in a project.

    Args:
        project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to get image from.
        family: name of the image family you want to get image from.

    Returns:
        An Image object.
    """
    image_client = compute_v1.ImagesClient()
    # List of public operating system (OS) images: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images/os-details
    newest_image = image_client.get_from_family(project=project, family=family)
    return newest_image


def disk_from_image(
    disk_type: str,
    disk_size_gb: int,
    boot: bool,
    source_image: str,
    auto_delete: bool = True,
) -> compute_v1.AttachedDisk:
    """
    Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. Uses an image as the
    source for the new disk.

    Args:
         disk_type: the type of disk you want to create. This value uses the following format:
            "zones/{zone}/diskTypes/(pd-standard|pd-ssd|pd-balanced|pd-extreme)".
            For example: "zones/us-west3-b/diskTypes/pd-ssd"
        disk_size_gb: size of the new disk in gigabytes
        boot: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be used as a boot disk of an instance
        source_image: source image to use when creating this disk. You must have read access to this disk. This can be one
            of the publicly available images or an image from one of your projects.
            This value uses the following format: "projects/{project_name}/global/images/{image_name}"
        auto_delete: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be deleted with the VM that uses it

    Returns:
        AttachedDisk object configured to be created using the specified image.
    """
    boot_disk = compute_v1.AttachedDisk()
    initialize_params = compute_v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams()
    initialize_params.source_image = source_image
    initialize_params.disk_size_gb = disk_size_gb
    initialize_params.disk_type = disk_type
    boot_disk.initialize_params = initialize_params
    # Remember to set auto_delete to True if you want the disk to be deleted when you delete
    # your VM instance.
    boot_disk.auto_delete = auto_delete
    boot_disk.boot = boot
    return boot_disk


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.

    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def create_instance(
    project_id: str,
    zone: str,
    instance_name: str,
    disks: list[compute_v1.AttachedDisk],
    machine_type: str = "n1-standard-1",
    network_link: str = "global/networks/default",
    subnetwork_link: str = None,
    internal_ip: str = None,
    external_access: bool = False,
    external_ipv4: str = None,
    accelerators: list[compute_v1.AcceleratorConfig] = None,
    preemptible: bool = False,
    spot: bool = False,
    instance_termination_action: str = "STOP",
    custom_hostname: str = None,
    delete_protection: bool = False,
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Send an instance creation request to the Compute Engine API and wait for it to complete.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
        disks: a list of compute_v1.AttachedDisk objects describing the disks
            you want to attach to your new instance.
        machine_type: machine type of the VM being created. This value uses the
            following format: "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}".
            For example: "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
        network_link: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
            For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
            named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
        subnetwork_link: name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
            This value uses the following format:
            "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"
        internal_ip: internal IP address you want to assign to the new instance.
            By default, a free address from the pool of available internal IP addresses of
            used subnet will be used.
        external_access: boolean flag indicating if the instance should have an external IPv4
            address assigned.
        external_ipv4: external IPv4 address to be assigned to this instance. If you specify
            an external IP address, it must live in the same region as the zone of the instance.
            This setting requires `external_access` to be set to True to work.
        accelerators: a list of AcceleratorConfig objects describing the accelerators that will
            be attached to the new instance.
        preemptible: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be preemptible
            or not. Preemptible VMs have been deprecated and you should now use Spot VMs.
        spot: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be a Spot VM or not.
        instance_termination_action: What action should be taken once a Spot VM is terminated.
            Possible values: "STOP", "DELETE"
        custom_hostname: Custom hostname of the new VM instance.
            Custom hostnames must conform to RFC 1035 requirements for valid hostnames.
        delete_protection: boolean value indicating if the new virtual machine should be
            protected against deletion or not.
    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    # Use the network interface provided in the network_link argument.
    network_interface = compute_v1.NetworkInterface()
    network_interface.network = network_link
    if subnetwork_link:
        network_interface.subnetwork = subnetwork_link

    if internal_ip:
        network_interface.network_i_p = internal_ip

    if external_access:
        access = compute_v1.AccessConfig()
        access.type_ = compute_v1.AccessConfig.Type.ONE_TO_ONE_NAT.name
        access.name = "External NAT"
        access.network_tier = access.NetworkTier.PREMIUM.name
        if external_ipv4:
            access.nat_i_p = external_ipv4
        network_interface.access_configs = [access]

    # Collect information into the Instance object.
    instance = compute_v1.Instance()
    instance.network_interfaces = [network_interface]
    instance.name = instance_name
    instance.disks = disks
    if re.match(r"^zones/[a-z\d\-]+/machineTypes/[a-z\d\-]+$", machine_type):
        instance.machine_type = machine_type
    else:
        instance.machine_type = f"zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{machine_type}"

    instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
    if accelerators:
        instance.guest_accelerators = accelerators
        instance.scheduling.on_host_maintenance = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.OnHostMaintenance.TERMINATE.name
        )

    if preemptible:
        # Set the preemptible setting
        warnings.warn(
            "Preemptible VMs are being replaced by Spot VMs.", DeprecationWarning
        )
        instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
        instance.scheduling.preemptible = True

    if spot:
        # Set the Spot VM setting
        instance.scheduling.provisioning_model = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.ProvisioningModel.SPOT.name
        )
        instance.scheduling.instance_termination_action = instance_termination_action

    if custom_hostname is not None:
        # Set the custom hostname for the instance
        instance.hostname = custom_hostname

    if delete_protection:
        # Set the delete protection bit
        instance.deletion_protection = True

    # Prepare the request to insert an instance.
    request = compute_v1.InsertInstanceRequest()
    request.zone = zone
    request.project = project_id
    request.instance_resource = instance

    # Wait for the create operation to complete.
    print(f"Creating the {instance_name} instance in {zone}...")

    operation = instance_client.insert(request=request)

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance creation")

    print(f"Instance {instance_name} created.")
    return instance_client.get(project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name)


def create_windows_instance(
    project_id: str,
    zone: str,
    instance_name: str,
    machine_type: str,
    source_image_family: str = "windows-2022",
    network_link: str = "global/networks/default",
    subnetwork_link: str | None = None,
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Creates a new Windows Server instance that has only an internal IP address.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
        machine_type: machine type you want to create in following format:
            "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}". For example:
            "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
            You can find the list of available machine types using:
            https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/machine-types/list
        source_image_family: name of the public image family for Windows Server or SQL Server images.
            https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images#os-compute-support
        network_link: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
            For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
            named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
        subnetwork_link: name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
            This value uses the following format:
           "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"

    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    if subnetwork_link is None:
        subnetwork_link = f"regions/{zone}/subnetworks/default"

    base_image = get_image_from_family(
        project="windows-cloud", family=source_image_family
    )
    disk_type = f"zones/{zone}/diskTypes/pd-standard"
    disks = [disk_from_image(disk_type, 100, True, base_image.self_link, True)]

    # You must verify or configure routes and firewall rules in your VPC network
    # to allow access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com.
    # More information about access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server

    # Additionally, you must enable Private Google Access for subnets in your VPC network
    # that contain Windows instances with only internal IP addresses.
    # More information about Private Google Access: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/configure-private-google-access#enabling

    instance = create_instance(
        project_id,
        zone,
        instance_name,
        disks,
        machine_type=machine_type,
        network_link=network_link,
        subnetwork_link=subnetwork_link,
        external_access=True,  # Set this to False to disable external IP for your instance
    )
    return instance

Because this instance does not have an external IP address, you cannot connect to it directly over the Internet. You can connect from another network connected to your VPC network by using Cloud Interconnect or Cloud VPN, or you can first connect to a bastion instance over RDP and then connect to the instance that has only an internal IP address.

Additionally, you can join the VM to a Managed Microsoft AD domain either while creating the VM or after creating the VM. For more information, see Join a Windows VM automatically to a domain.

Configure access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com

For Windows activation and renewal, your VPC network must meet the following routing and firewall rule requirements.

Routing requirements

Your Windows instances must be able to reach kms.windows.googlecloud.com (35.190.247.13 or 2001:4860:4802:32::86) through a route whose next hop is the default Internet gateway. You cannot activate Windows instances using an instance based NAT gateway or Cloud NAT because kms.windows.googlecloud.com rejects activation requests from IP addresses that are not confirmed to be Compute Engine instances.

You can use the default route in your VPC network to route traffic directly to kms.windows.googlecloud.com. If you remove this route, or if you plan to do so in the future, create a custom static route with destination 35.190.247.13 or 2001:4860:4802:32::86, and next hop set to default Internet gateway, as follows:

IPv4 only

gcloud compute routes create mskms-ipv4-route-ipv4-network \
    --destination-range=35.190.247.13/32 \
    --network=ipv4-network \
    --next-hop-gateway=default-internet-gateway

Dual stack

gcloud compute routes create mskms-ipv4-route-ipv4-network \
    --destination-range=35.190.247.13/32 \
    --network=ipv4-network \
    --next-hop-gateway=default-internet-gateway

gcloud compute routes create mskms-ipv6-route-ipv6-network \
    --destination-range=2001:4860:4802:32::86/128 \
    --network=ipv6-network \
    --next-hop-gateway=default-internet-gateway

IPv6 only

gcloud compute routes create mskms-ipv6-route-ipv6-network \
    --destination-range=2001:4860:4802:32::86/128 \
    --network=ipv6-network \
    --next-hop-gateway=default-internet-gateway

Replace ipv4-network or ipv6-network with the name of your VPC network.

Either the default route or a custom static route permit instances with external IP addresses to reach kms.windows.googlecloud.com. If you have Windows instances without external IP addresses or using Cloud NAT, you must also enable Private Google Access so that instances with only internal IP addresses can send traffic to the external IP address for kms.windows.googlecloud.com (35.190.247.13 or 2001:4860:4802:32::86).

Firewall rule requirements

The implied allow egress firewall rule allows instances to make requests and receive established responses. Unless you have created custom firewall rules that deny egress, your Windows instances can communicate with kms.windows.googlecloud.com.

If you customize firewall rules, it's a good practice to create a high priority egress allow rule that explicitly permits communication with 35.190.247.13 or 2001:4860:4802:32::86. This way, as you modify your firewall rules, you won't accidentally disable Windows activation.

The following gcloud examples creates the recommended allow egress rule with the highest priority:

IPv4 only

gcloud compute firewall-rules create mskms-ipv4-firewall-rule-ipv4-network \
    --direction=EGRESS \
    --network=ipv4-network \
    --action=ALLOW \
    --rules=tcp:1688 \
    --destination-ranges=35.190.247.13/32 \
    --priority=0

Dual stack

gcloud compute firewall-rules create mskms-ipv4-firewall-rule-ipv4-network \
    --direction=EGRESS \
    --network=ipv4-network \
    --action=ALLOW \
    --rules=tcp:1688 \
    --destination-ranges=35.190.247.13/32 \
    --priority=0

gcloud compute firewall-rules create mskms-ipv6-firewall-rule-ipv6-network \
    --direction=EGRESS \
    --network=ipv6-network \
    --action=ALLOW \
    --rules=tcp:1688 \
    --destination-ranges=2001:4860:4802:32::86/128 \
    --priority=0

IPv6 only

gcloud compute firewall-rules create mskms-ipv6-firewall-rule-ipv6-network \
    --direction=EGRESS \
    --network=ipv6-network \
    --action=ALLOW \
    --rules=tcp:1688 \
    --destination-ranges=2001:4860:4802:32::86/128 \
    --priority=0

Replace ipv4-network or ipv6-network with the name of your VPC network.

Verifying that an instance has successfully started

Windows instances experience a longer startup time because of the sysprep process. The Google Cloud console might show that the instance is running even if the sysprep process is not yet complete. To check if your instance has successfully started and is ready to be used, check the serial port output with the following command:

gcloud compute instances get-serial-port-output INSTANCE_NAME

Replace INSTANCE_NAME with the name of the instance that you want to verify.

...[snip]...
Running schtasks with arguments /run /tn GCEStartup
-->  SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "GCEStartup".
-------------------------------------------------------------
Instance setup finished. INSTANCE_NAME is ready to use.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Enabling and disabling Windows instance features

If you have Windows instances with image versions v20170509 and later or with agent version 4.1.0 and later, you can set instance configuration in a config file or in project or instance custom metadata. The config file is in INI format, and is located at the following path:

C:\Program Files\Google\Compute Engine\instance_configs.cfg

The system overrides configuration settings in the following order of priority from the highest priority to the lowest priority:

Configuration parameters that you set in the config file
Configuration parameters set in instance-level custom metadata
Configuration parameters set in project-level custom metadata

For example, if you can enable the accountManager feature in a config file, your instance ignores parameters that you set in custom metadata to disable that feature.

One benefit of setting these parameters in the config file is that those settings persist when you create a custom image for a Windows Server instance. Instance-level custom metadata does not persist beyond the life of the instance.

You can disable different Windows instance features using the following examples.

Disable the account manager

Disabling the account manager also disables resetting passwords with the Google Cloud CLI or the Google Cloud console:

Config file:
```
[accountManager]
disable=true
```
In custom metadata, set disable-account-manager to true in metadata.

Disable the address manager

Config file entry:
```
[addressManager]
disable=true
```
In custom metadata, set disable-address-manager to true in metadata.

Windows Server Failover Clustering

Enable the Windows Server Failover Clustering agent:

Config file entry:
```
[wsfc]
enable=true
```
In custom metadata, set enable-wsfc to true in metadata.

Using multiple internal load balancers

Specify the IP address of the internal load balancing instance for failover clustering. This is an advanced configuration that you don't need to set for a dedicated failover cluster.

Normally you use an instance of internal load balancing to direct network traffic to one VM instance at a time. If you add a second instance of internal load balancing that uses the failover clustering VM instances as part of a load-balanced website backend, you would have two internal load balancing IP addresses. If failover clustering uses 10.0.0.10 and the website's load balancer uses 10.0.0.11, you must specify the IP address of the load balancer that you use for failover clustering. This disambiguates which address is in use for the cluster.

Config file entry:
```
[wsfc]
addresses=10.0.0.10
```
In custom metadata, set wsfc-addrs to a 10.0.0.10.

Changing the clustering agent port

Set the failover clustering agent port. The default port is 59998. You need to specify a port only when you want to use a different port:

Config file entry:
```
[wsfc]
port=12345
```
In custom metadata, set wsfc-agent-port to the port number.

Image version notes

Older images don't use a config file and only have a subset of features. Image versions between version v20160112 and version v20170509, or Windows agent version between 3.2.1.0 and 4.0.0 require you to use the following custom metadata values:

Set disable-account-manager to true in instance metadata to disable the account manager.
Set disable-address-manager to true in instance metadata to disable the address manager.

What's next

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

Last updated 2026-09-30 UTC.

Create and manage Windows Server VMs Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

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Before you begin

Console

gcloud

Go

Java

Node.js

Python

REST

Create a Windows Server instance

Work with Microsoft Active Directory

Create a Windows Server instance that uses an external IP to activate

Console

gcloud

Go

Java

Node.js

Python

REST

Create a Windows Server instance that uses an internal IP address to activate

gcloud

Go

Java

Node.js

Python

Configure access to kms.windows.googlecloud.com

Routing requirements

IPv4 only

Dual stack

IPv6 only

Firewall rule requirements

IPv4 only

Dual stack

IPv6 only

Verifying that an instance has successfully started

Enabling and disabling Windows instance features

Disable the account manager

Disable the address manager

Windows Server Failover Clustering

Using multiple internal load balancers

Changing the clustering agent port

Image version notes

What's next

Create and manage Windows Server VMs