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This page explains how to browse and manage
Compute Engine resources with Cloud Tools for Visual Studio.
To browse and manage Compute Engine resources, launch
Cloud Explorer by going to Tools > Google Cloud Tools in
Visual Studio.
Cloud Explorer populates itself with your account’s projects
and the resources associated with the selected project.
VM instances with a green circle are currently running, whereas those with
a black circle are stopped.
Creating VM instances and checking status
To perfom actions with Compute Engine, right-click on the
Compute Engine node in the Cloud Explorer tree and choose
one of the menu options.
Status opens a browser at the Google Cloud status page.
New ASP.NET Instance creates a new ASP.NET instance using a template in
Compute Engine.
New Instance creates new instances in Compute Engine.
Filtering to show only Windows machines
To filter the Compute Engine instances to only Windows machines,
select Only Windows Instances.
Performing actions on a Compute Engine VM instance
To perform instance-specific operations for managing VM instances within Visual
Studio, right-click on a Compute Engine VM instance in Cloud Explorer
and choose one of the menu options.
Save publishing settings produces a publishing settings file
from a Windows credential for use in creating a new profile in the
Publish dialog.
Open Remote Desktop session opens up a Remote Desktop Connection for that
machine using the selected Windows credential for easy administration access.
Open website opens the website for that machine’s
external IP address to test web sites deployed on that machine.
Firewall options opens the Firewall Options dialog, which allows
you to open or close common firewall ports on your VM instance.
Manage Windows credentials allows you to add or create Windows
credentials for your VM instance.
Stop Instance stops your VM instance. If the VM instance is stopped, this
menu item is Start Instance.
Displaying properties of a Compute Engine VM
To show the properties of a Compute Engine VM instance, select the VM
instance in Cloud Explorer.
[[["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 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Browsing Compute Engine Resources\n\nThis page explains how to browse and manage\n[Compute Engine](/compute/docs) resources with Cloud Tools for Visual Studio.\n\nTo browse and manage Compute Engine resources, launch\nCloud Explorer by going to **Tools** \\\u003e **Google Cloud Tools** in\nVisual Studio.\n| **Note:** If you haven't logged into a Google Cloud account, you will be prompted to do so.\n\nCloud Explorer populates itself with your account's projects\nand the resources associated with the selected project.\n\n\nVM instances with a green circle are currently running, whereas those with\na black circle are stopped.\n\nCreating VM instances and checking status\n-----------------------------------------\n\nTo perfom actions with Compute Engine, right-click on the\nCompute Engine node in the Cloud Explorer tree and choose\none of the menu options.\n\n\n- **Status** opens a browser at the Google Cloud status page.\n- **New ASP.NET Instance** creates a new ASP.NET instance using a template in Compute Engine.\n- **New Instance** creates new instances in Compute Engine.\n\nFiltering to show only Windows machines\n---------------------------------------\n\nTo filter the Compute Engine instances to only Windows machines,\nselect **Only Windows Instances**.\n\nPerforming actions on a Compute Engine VM instance\n--------------------------------------------------\n\nTo perform instance-specific operations for managing VM instances within Visual\nStudio, right-click on a Compute Engine VM instance in Cloud Explorer\nand choose one of the menu options.\n\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\n- **Save publishing settings** produces a publishing settings file from a Windows credential for use in creating a new profile in the Publish dialog.\n- **Open Remote Desktop session** opens up a Remote Desktop Connection for that machine using the selected Windows credential for easy administration access.\n- **Open website** opens the website for that machine's external IP address to test web sites deployed on that machine.\n- **Firewall options** opens the **Firewall Options** dialog, which allows you to open or close common firewall ports on your VM instance.\n- **Manage Windows credentials** allows you to add or create Windows credentials for your VM instance.\n- **Stop Instance** stops your VM instance. If the VM instance is stopped, this menu item is **Start Instance**.\n\nDisplaying properties of a Compute Engine VM\n--------------------------------------------\n\nTo show the properties of a Compute Engine VM instance, select the VM\ninstance in Cloud Explorer."]]
