Connect to an instance by using VNC

Prerequisites

• Supported instance states: Running or Stopping.

• Unsupported instance type: The ecs.ebmhfc7.48xlarge bare metal instance.

Procedure

1. Go to the ECS console - Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the resource group and region where the target instance is located.

2. Find the target instance and click its ID.

3. Connect to the instance by using VNC.

   Important

   VNC connections time out after 300 seconds of inactivity. If this happens, you must reconnect.

   1. Click Connect > Show Other Logon Methods. In the VNC section, click Sign in now.

   2. Log on to the operating system.

      • Linux instance

        1. Enter the logon username, such as root or ecs-user, and press Enter.

        2. Enter the instance's logon password and press Enter.

           If you have not set a password or have forgotten it, select Reset Instance Password from the All Operations menu on the instance details page.

           

      • Windows instance

        1. In the upper-left corner of the page, click Send Remote Commands > CTRL+ALT+DELETE to unlock the screen.

        2. Select a user account (the default is Administrator), enter the instance logon password, and press Enter.

           If you have not set a password or have forgotten it, select Reset Instance Password from the All Operations menu on the instance details page.

           

FAQ

• How do I paste commands?

  1. In the VNC window, click where you want to paste the content.

  2. In the upper-left corner of the VNC window, click Enter Copied Commands.

     A maximum of 2,000 characters is supported. Non-standard keyboard characters, such as Chinese characters, are not supported.

  3. In the Text dialog box, enter the content and click OK.

• How do I send remote commands?

  You can use the Send Remote Commands feature to simulate keyboard shortcuts. For example, you can send CTRL+ALT+DELETE to unlock a Windows screen or switch between virtual terminals on a Linux instance by sending commands from CTRL+ALT+F1 to CTRL+ALT+F10.

  1. Log on to the ECS instance by using VNC.

  2. In the upper-left corner of the VNC window, click Send Remote Commands and select a command from the drop-down list to simulate the shortcut.

     

• Forgotten or unset instance password

  If you forget the instance password or have not set one, go to the instance details page, open the All Operations menu, and select Reset Password.

• "State does not support this operation" error

  Instances in a Trusted Domain Extensions (TDX) confidential computing environment do not support VNC connections.

• Default logon usernames

  • For Linux instances: The default user is root. If you set the instance to use ecs-user during creation, the user is ecs-user.

  • Windows instances: The default username is Administrator.

• Default logon password

  None.

  For security reasons, Alibaba Cloud does not assign a default or initial password to an ECS instance. If you do not set a password during instance creation, you must reset it later.

• "You are not authorized..." error

  You must grant a RAM user the ecs:DescribeInstances and ecs:DescribeInstanceVncUrl permissions. The permission policy file is as follows:

  {
    "Version": "1",
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
          "ecs:DescribeInstances",
          "ecs:DescribeInstanceVncUrl"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
      }
    ]
  }

• Login incorrect error

  Make sure that you have entered the correct password. If you have forgotten the password, go to the instance details page, open the All Operations menu, and select Reset Password. Then, try to connect again.

• Black screen on Linux instances

  A black screen indicates that the Linux instance has entered sleep mode. Press any key on your keyboard to wake it up.

• How do I connect to a Simple Application Server instance by using VNC?

  In Simple Application Server, the equivalent feature is called Rescue Logon.

Related topics

• Call the DescribeInstanceVncUrl API operation to obtain the VNC logon URL for an ECS instance.

• For issues related to connecting to an instance by using VNC, see VNC connection issues.