The Windows Server operating system is most often accessed and managed through a protocol called RDP, or Remote Desktop Protocol. This provides you with a graphical interface of your Windows Server that looks and acts just like a standard Windows OS, like the one you have on your Home PC.

Credentials

You’ll be able to log-in to your HostVenom VPS that’s running Windows Server 2019/2022 using the credentials provided to you in the VPS Welcome email sent to you by HostVenom at the time of purchase.

You’ll want to use the credentials and IPv4 address provided in the “Server Details” section of the email, shown in the image to the right.

A HostVenom VPS Welcome email for a Basic Trading VPS with a green box surrounding the “Server Details” section in the middle.

A HostVenom VPS Welcome email for a Basic Trading VPS with a green box surrounding the “Server Details” section in the middle.

Connecting

Using the credentials provided in the aforementioned email, you can log-in to your VPS’s RDP server using the Windows RDP client on your Windows PC by following the steps outlined below.

Microsoft also has official RDP Clients for operating systems other than Windows, but we’ll just be covering the Windows client here. For information on where to get and how to use the other clients on your operating system, check out the links below.

Android/Chrome OS

iOS/iPadOS

Web (Any OS with a browser)

RDP Application

First, you’ll want to launch the Remote Desktop Connection application. You can do this by opening the start menu on your Home PC and typing “Remote Desktop Connection” into the start menu. If you have a search bar directly in your taskbar, that can be used as well.

As you start to type the name of the program into the Start Menu, you should see the program appear in the results in a similar way to the image on the right. You can then either click on the entry in the list, press enter to launch the currently selected item, or press the Open button on the right side of the start menu.

The windows start menu with “Remo” typed into to the search field, showing the “Remote Desktop Connection” program as the first result.

The windows start menu with “Remo” typed into to the search field, showing the “Remote Desktop Connection” program as the first result.

Once you open the Remote Desktop Connection application you should see a window that looks similar to the image shown on the right, with an empty computer address and a “none specified” username.

You’ll want to enter the IPv4 address contained within the VPS Welcome email you received from HostVenom into the computer field and click Connect.

The Windows Remote Desktop Connection application with the computer text field / drop down selected and empty. There are two buttons at the bottom, “Connect” and “Help” with a “Show Options” toggle on the bottom right.

The Windows Remote Desktop Connection application with the computer text field / drop down selected and empty. There are two buttons at the bottom, “Connect” and “Help” with a “Show Options” toggle on the bottom right.

Login

After clicking Connect you’ll be presented with a login screen. The login screen will try to use the credentials of your current Windows user by default, so you’ll want to click on the More choices option at the bottom of the window and select Use a different account. This will allow you to enter both a username and password instead of just a password. You’ll need to enter the username and password provided by the VPS Welcome email you received from HostVenom.

A Windows Security popup with just a password field and an arrow pointing to text that says “More choices”.

A Windows Security popup with just a password field and an arrow pointing to text that says “More choices”.

A Windows Security popup with both a username and password screen, and the “More choices” toggle expanded. Below “More choices” is the current Windows account and the option to “Use a different account”.

A Windows Security popup with both a username and password screen, and the “More choices” toggle expanded. Below “More choices” is the current Windows account and the option to “Use a different account”.

Certificate

You may get a warning during your first connection to your Windows 2019/2022 server saying that the remote computer could not be identified. This is normal for the first connection and has to do with the certificate used to prove that the server is the server you’re wanting to connect to.

Since you haven’t connected to the server in the past, and the server’s certificate isn’t registered with a 3rd party, your computer is relying on you to say that you want to trust this connection. The only time you should be worried about this warning is when it shows up when you are connecting to a Windows 2019/2022 server you’ve connected to before.

A Remote Desktop Connection security warning with multiple subsections going over the information about the certificate provided by the Windows Server. The top of the warning is yellow and has a shield with an exclamation point. The bottom right corner contains two buttons, “Yes” and “No” with the “No” button being highlighted by default.

A Remote Desktop Connection security warning with multiple subsections going over the information about the certificate provided by the Windows Server. The top of the warning is yellow and has a shield with an exclamation point. The bottom right corner contains two buttons, “Yes” and “No” with the “No” button being highlighted by default.

Otherwise, click the “Yes” option, confirming that you do trust the certificate and would like Windows to remember that choice.

Server Manager and Desktop

After entering the credentials, you’ll want to click OK. This should connect you to the RDP server that’s running on your Windows 2019/2022 VPS and will open a new full screen window similar to the one shown on the right.

The Windows Server Manager opened on the Windows Server desktop.

The Windows Server Manager opened on the Windows Server desktop.

On the first connection, HostVenom VPSs will have the Windows Server Manager open, which is used to interact with and configure your server remotely. You can close this application using the close button in the top right corner, just like on your Home PC running Windows.

After closing the Windows Server Manager, you should see the default windows background and a Windows taskbar.

The default Windows 10 background and the Windows 0 taskbar with the search bar enabled.

The default Windows 10 background and the Windows 0 taskbar with the search bar enabled.