Why is my VM coming up/booting with Powershell command and not leaving.

Question

I connected to my new VM and all I am seeing is a cmd.exe

I tried to close the powershell but is not closing. I can do anything on the VM.

Answer 1

H Ruth,

From your description it appears you created your VM using Windows Server "Core" image. These images do not include graphical user interface, which is why you only see cmd.exe with Server Configuration (SConfig) when connecting via RDP.

Please create a new VM using a non-Core image, for example, Windows Server 2025 Datacenter - x64 Gen2 (note there is no "Core" in the image name).

NOTE: You may also choose a [smalldisk] version of the same in order to use a smaller OS disk, thus saving money.

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

Thanks.

-TP