Connect to Windows VMs using the SAC

Windows

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This document describes how to connect to the Windows Special Administrative Console (SAC). The SAC uses a serial port connection to a Windows virtual machine (VM) instance and doesn't rely on network connectivity, which can help troubleshoot or recover a Windows VM instance. By connecting to the VM's serial console and using the SAC, you can interrupt the VM's boot process or gain access to a CMD or PowerShell terminal to perform troubleshooting. For a general purpose remote desktop experience other than troubleshooting, connect to Windows VMs using RDP.

Before you begin

• Before you can connect to your VM using the interactive serial console, enable interactive access for your VM. For more information, see Enabling interactive access on the serial console.
• If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine as follows.
  

  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, then initialize it by running the following command:

     gcloud init

     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.

Caution: The interactive serial console does not support IP-based access restrictions such as IP-based include lists or exclude lists. If you enable the interactive serial console on an instance, anyone from any IP address is able to connect if they know a local username, project ID, zone, and instance name.

Connect to the Serial Console

To connect to your Windows instance using an interactive serial console, complete the steps in one of the following tabs.

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.setMetadata on the VM if enabling interactive access on a specific VM
• compute.projects.setCommonInstanceMetadata on the project, if enabling interactive access for all VMs in the project
• iam.serviceAccountUser role on the instance's service account

Console

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Click the name of the VM you want to connect to.

3. Click Connect to serial console to open the interactive console.

The interactive serial console opens. It's ready to use when you see the following output:

Computer is booting, SAC started and initialized.

Use the "ch -?" command for information about using channels.
Use the "?" command for general help.

SAC>

If the interactive serial console is a blank screen with a blinking cursor, it is likely because the Emergency Management Services are off. See troubleshooting interactive serial console to learn how to resolve this issue.

gcloud

Use the gcloud compute connect-to-serial-port command to connect to VM instances that have serial port access enabled:

gcloud compute connect-to-serial-port VM_NAME \
    --port=2 \
    --zone=ZONE \
    --project=PROJECT_ID

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project that contains the VM
• ZONE: the name of the zone in which the VM is located
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM

The interactive serial console opens. It is ready to use when you see the following output:

Computer is booting, SAC started and initialized.

Use the "ch -?" command for information about using channels.
Use the "?" command for general help.

SAC>

If the interactive serial console is a blank screen with a blinking cursor, it is likely because the Emergency Management Services are off. See troubleshooting interactive serial console to learn how to resolve this issue.

For information about using the interactive serial console, see the Microsoft SAC Commands documentation.

Open Command Prompt in Windows SAC

To open Command Prompt in the SAC, do the following:

1. Type cmd, then press Enter. You see the following output:

   SAC>cmd
   The Command Prompt session was successfully launched.
   SAC>
   EVENT:   A new channel has been created.  Use "ch -?" for channel help.
   Channel: Cmd0001
   SAC>
   

2. Use the ch -sn CHANNEL_NAME command, then press Enter.

   ch -sn CHANNEL_NAME
   

   Replace CHANNEL_NAME with the name of the channel you created in the previous step.

   The output is similar to the following:

   Name:                  Cmd0001
   Description:           Command
   Type:                  VT-UTF8
   Channel GUID:          28de7392-5413-11ea-bb03-c9656a2ed613
   Application Type GUID: 63d02271-8aa4-11d5-bccf-00b0d014a2d0
   
   Press <esc><tab> for next channel.
   Press <esc><tab>0 to return to the SAC channel.
   Use any other key to view this channel.
   

3. Press Space, then login with the local credentials registered on the system.

   Please enter login credentials.
   Username: USERNAME
   Domain: DOMAIN (leave blank if no domain)
   Password: PASSWORD
   

   Note: If you are unsure of the credentials, you might be able to create or reset the password.

   Once connected, you have access to a Command Prompt shell.

   Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393]
   (c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
   
   C:\Windows\system32>
   

4. Optional: To enter a Powershell prompt, type powershell.exe, then press Enter.

What's next

• Learn how to connect to Windows VMs using RDP
• Learn how to troubleshoot Interactive Serial Console .