How to Deploy a Windows 10 Virtual Machine in Microsoft Azure

Introduction

Cloud computing doesn’t have to be boring.

In this guide, we’ll deploy a Windows 10 Virtual Machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure using the Azure Portal, step by step.

By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to:

• Create a Windows 10 Azure VM
• Configure remote access
• Connect using RDP
• Understand the basics of Azure Virtual Machines

Let’s build your first cloud machine.

What is a Virtual Machine (VM)?

A Virtual Machine (VM) is a computer that runs inside the cloud instead of physical hardware.

With Azure Virtual Machines, you can:

• Run Windows or Linux operating systems
• Install applications
• Test environments
• Practice cloud administration
• Access your machine remotely from anywhere

Think of it as renting a computer from Microsoft’s datacenter whenever you need one.

And today, we’re building one from scratch.

Scenario

A company requires a cloud-hosted Windows 10 environment for remote administration, testing, and secure access to internal applications.

The solution must allow administrators to securely connect to the machine remotely while maintaining proper network and security configurations.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have:

• A Microsoft Azure account
• An active Azure subscription
• A stable internet connection
• A Remote Desktop application

Now come with me, let’s build your first cloud machine.

Use the Azure portal to create the Windows 10 Virtual Machine.

1. Use the top search box to search for and select Virtual machines.
   

2. Click + Create, and then select in the drop-down virtual machine. Notice your other choices.
   

3. On the Basics tab, continue completing the configuration:

   • Subscription: Select the name of your Azure subscription
   • Resource group: Click Create new, give the resource group a name and click Ok
   • Virtual machine names: Select any name for your virtual machine.
   • Region: Select a preferred region.
   • Availability options: Select No infrastructure redundancy required
   • Security type: Select Standard (review your other choices)
   • Image: Click on see all images, to have an overview and variety of images to choose from and select Windows 10 enterprise version 22H2 -x64 Gen2
   • Size: Choose Standard_B4as_v2 (use See all sizes to view the CPU and memory)
   • Username: Give it a Username. For example "azureuser"
   • Password: Select a Password you can remember and repeat the password in the confirm password tab below.
   • Public inbound ports: Choose Allow selected ports
   • Select inbound ports: Choose your desired allowed ports, please note that for windows vm like the one we are creating by default RDP port 3389 is selected, you can choose to add HTTP(80) and HTTPS(443)
   • Licensing: Check the licensing box ✅

4. Navigate to the monitoring tab, and under boot diagnostics of the Diagnostics section, select disable. Leave others with their default values
   

5. Click Review + Create.
   

6. After the validation passes, click Create.
   

Increase the Idle Timeout on the Public IP address of your Windows 10 Virtual Machine.

1. select Go to resource.
   

2. From the Overview blade, ensure the virtual machine Status is Running, and the public IP address is visible under the Networking section and also on the Primary NIC public IP section.
   

3. Click on Public IP under the Networking section on the VM overview page
   

4. Set the Idle timeout bar in the configuration section to the maximum (30) and click apply
   

Connect to the virtual machine.

1. On the Overview tab of the VM, in the top menu, select Connect and Connect in the drop-down.
   

2. In the Native RDP page, select the Check access button to make sure port 3389 is available.
   

3. Select Download RDP file to download the connection file to your computer.
   

4. Open the downloaded RDP file and click Connect/Continue when prompted.
   
   

5. You may receive a certificate warning during the sign-in process. Click Yes or Continue to create the connection.
   

6. Now you have access to your azure windows 10 VM, lets play some super mario.
   
   
   

Conclusion

Congratulations on successfully deploying and connecting to your first Windows 10 Virtual Machine in Microsoft Azure.

In this lab, we explored the core concepts behind Azure Virtual Machines, including compute provisioning, authentication, and secure remote access using RDP.

Azure VMs provide a flexible and scalable way to run workloads in the cloud without managing physical hardware, making them ideal for testing, administration, development environments, and enterprise workloads.

Some key takeaways from this lab include:

• Azure Virtual Machines provide on-demand cloud computing resources
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) enables secure remote administration
• Virtual Machines can be used for learning, testing, development, and production workloads
• Cloud infrastructure can be deployed within minutes using the Azure Portal

By completing this exercise, you have taken another important step in building practical cloud engineering skills with Microsoft Azure.

See you in the next article.