FREE Windows VPS Server in 2022

Hi In this article, I will show you how you can deploy a free Microsoft server 2016, Microsoft server 2019, or Microsoft server 2022 Evaluation edition. And because the VPS I will be using also comes with a free introductory period, you can follow along at absolutely no cost and then decide if this offers anything you would like to continue using.

 All three windows versions will give you basically the same capabilities, so I will continue with one of them, server 2022, just to show you some of them. When on the VPS desktop, you can see your local PC drives, allowing you to access any files you need from there or even to save work that was done on the VPS. And to demonstrate printing, if I first open a simple text file that's on my local Windows 10 PC's main drive and select to print it,

 you will notice that it has automatically mapped my local PC's printer that is just six feet away from where I am sitting, even though this VPS desktop and all its applications are a thousand miles away in a data center. And as the VPS provider I am using advertises their website as mobile, phone, and tablet friendly, to test it,

I completed every step I am about to show you just on my mobile phone and even can use the resultant Windows VPS that way, meaning even if you don't have access to PC, you can still create and use a Windows server.

 I have found this useful. When not near my PC, I can still access the VPS from just my phone or tablet with just a couple of clicks. So by the end of this video, you will have a powerful machine with a free full Windows server desktop on it separate from your current PC. And as a final bonus,

 at the end of the video, I will be showing you how to reset the 180 days evaluation period up to six times, allowing up to three years of use at no cost. Anyway, enough of this introduction. I will see you in a minute.  (shattering noise) When choosing a VPS cloud provider for this video, I first considered the big three of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud,

 and Microsoft Azure, but a combination of high cost coupled with a lack of web-based console quickly ruled out all three. I then looked at what I considered to be the most commonly used medium size providers. Linode was ruled out, as it has Linux-only instances, and so its facilities, for example, snapshots and backups, didn't work on Windows VPSs.

Digital Ocean was also quickly ruled out, as, again, they only supported Linux-based operating systems on its infrastructure, so things like networking doesn't work properly for any non-Linux VPSs. However, VUKTR's infrastructure already supports their Windows-based VPSs, so I have found no issues when using any facilities they offer, coupled with their web-based console, which makes this a far simpler article.

At the time of making this video in June 2022, they have a $100 free introduction offer. That means following the steps in this video and initially running the VPS will be free for you. As such, I have put a link in the YouTube description that takes you directly to this offer webpage. Although it doesn't mention it,

 I have been informed by VULTR support that you will see the full terms of the current offering before you finish the new user account creation process. However, as I am now a current user, I select Account and then the Login sub option. After Sign up or Log in, you will be taken to this page.  From where I choose to deploy a new VPS server.  I select Cloud Compute. For server location,

 I pick the closest one to where I am.  For server image, we are going to be deploying our free Windows server image, so it really doesn't matter what is selected here. However, I just pick something, as it is a compulsory field. While we are here, I will just mention that is VULTR themselves offer Windows. Should you ever need their Windows VPS, this is where you will find them. For server size,

 as the VPS is going to be running a full Windows desktop, we need one with at least two gigabytes of memory, so I choose the base $12 option. Even though we have a free $100 to play with, I wouldn't recommend getting a bigger one at this stage, as in the future, no cloud provider will let you downgrade to an instance to one with a smaller disc,

 as there is a risk of losing data. This is the minimum VPS size you will be allowed should you decide to keep it. Also, later on, there is an ability to upgrade the server size if you find you need more CPU, memory, or disc. So even though I expect the 50 gigabytes of disc space will not be enough in the long term,

 I can just upgrade this when I need moreI switch off backups for now. Again, I can simply enable them later when I find I need them. I give the VPS a host name and label, then hit Deploy. The VPS will initially be shown as initializing. Once it shows it's running, I select it to be taken to its main control page.

 It will show an orange banner at the top of the page, initially indicating that there is still a few minutes to wait before it's ready for use. Wait five minutes, then reload this webpage, and it should be gone. We are now ready to apply any one of the free Windows server images you have selected.

To deploy one of the free server images, on the VPS control page, first select Settings and then Customize ISO from the left hand menu. Then, select the Linux 124 64-bit ISO from the dropdown. And press the button to boot up from this ISO, leaving the server's hard disk free to allow us to write an image to. After about 10 seconds,

I open the web console. When the VPS shown in the console has stopped booting up and shows a command prompt, open the clipboard hidden on the left hand side menu.  Grab one of the Deploy Image commands from the YouTube description, depending on whether you want server 2016, 2019, or 2022.  Paste it onto the clipboard. Then, press Enter on your keyboard,

so this enter character is also placed on the clipboard. Then, hit the Paste button.  The image now starts being applied. While it is running, I will just let you know how much of the 50 gigabyte disc each operating system takes up. For server 2016, it's 20 gigabytes. For server 2019, it's 15 gigabytes. And finally, server 2022 takes up 12 gigabytes of disc space. Therefore, unless you have a specific preference,

I would probably recommend server 2019, as that uses low disk space and as it's been out for a few years now, meaning any significant issues with it will have already been found and fixed by Microsoft. It's also worth stating that this whole deploying a Windows version section can be run anytime on this same VPS.

 If you want to change Windows server version, the only thing to remember is any work you have done needs to be copied off the server first, as the server's hard disc will be completely overwritten. I will speed up this part of the video, but expect it to take about 10 minutes to complete.  Now, it's finished. I close the web console window. Remove the ISO. And then reboot the server.

After a few seconds, I reopened the web console just to watch it boot up.  In the next section, we will connect to it properly using the built-in Windows RDP client, rather than just using this web-based console. If you are finding this article interesting or informative, please hit the like button, so YouTube also shows it to other users. Now to connect to the server instance from the computer via RDP.

So I start the Windows remote desktop connection software. Then, paste in the server's IP address from the website. For extra security, the normal RDP port to 3389 is not used. Instead, the machine is listening for remote desktop connections using RDP on port number 19529. As such, I simply key a colon, followed by the new port number, onto the end of the server's IP address.

I cut and paste the username of Administrator out of the YouTube description. I tick the box to allow me to save credentials. I confirm on the Display tab it's showing full screen. On the Local Resources tab, I ensure only printers, clipboard, and drives are checked.  On the Experience tab,

 I ensure direct connection is selected. If the connection were later to feel slow, I could always select a lower setting here. I give all the tabs a final check.  I have the option to save these settings. I now press Connect. When asked, I cut and paste the initial password to continue connecting, a copy of which can be seen on screen. Don't worry, we will be changing that next.

 It is worth stating that you will find all the commands, usernames, and initial passwords in the description of this video. As this is the very first time I am connecting, it may take a few extra seconds.  Finally, the machine's desktop appears. First, I start disc manager and extend the C operating system drive.

If I were to upgrade the VPS disc space at a later date, I would need to do this again, so Windows has access to the new space.  Finally, I select Start, Settings, Accounts and Sign in Options.  Then, change the password to the sort of password that is shown on screen. It should be at least 10 characters long, complex, and, very importantly, not found in a dictionary, so it cannot be easily guessed.

 And that's it, all the necessary configuration has now been done.  Now, as a final bonus, I will show you how to reset, or re-arm, the evaluation period, which can be done up to six times. So whether you are accessing this VPS with a PC, iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, or a combination of different devices,

 the evaluation period will last a full three years before you would have to follow the steps in this video again. To do that, we first start the command prompt in administrator. Then, run the command shown on screen. That brings up a window that shows the re-arm count left, which, in this case, is six. Then,

 to re-arm the evaluation period from its current level back to 180 days, run the command now shown on-screen. Complete the requested reboot. The evaluation period is now back to 180 days. On-screen, you will find a article showing how to deploy a free Windows server 2019 disc image, and, below it, a video showing how to deploy a free Windows server 2022