Connect to a Windows VM's SAC
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Windows
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's SAC by 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 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
Install the Google Cloud CLI.
After installation,
initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
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:
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>
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.
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
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>
Optional: To enter a Powershell prompt, type powershell.exe, then press
Enter.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2026-06-09 UTC."],[],[]]
