Here are the steps to create a virtual machine on Azure:

  • Click New “+” icon –> Compute –> Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter
    • Hostname
      • mgw-wm-test1
    • Username
    • Password
    • Pricing Tier
      • Basic A0
    • Optional Configuration
      • OS Settings
        • Time Zone
          • UTC-08:00
    • Resource Group
      • vm_test1
    • Location
      • West US
    • Click Create
  • Click on Connect and download RDP file
  • Edit RPD file with preferred settings
  • Connect to server via RDP
  • Initial server configuration
    • Turn off IE Enhanced Security Configuration
    • Don’t start Server Manager automatically
    • Windows Updates
      • Give me recommended updates
      • Give me updates for other Microsoft products
      • add to Start screen
    • Always show all notifications in system tray
  • Configure Shadow Copies on the C: drive
    • Two times at 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM
  • Check Event Viewer for any issues

 

Since I don’t want to pay the computing time for this test server, I shut it down from within Windows.   I then had to stop it from within the Azure portal to get it to change to the de-allocated state to confirm it wasn’t being charged.