Unable to connect to a Windows Virtual Machine hosted in Microsoft Azure using either direct RDP

Hello Azure Support Team,

We are unable to connect to a Windows Virtual Machine hosted in Microsoft Azure using either direct RDP

Environment:

• Operating System: Windows Server 2022 Datacenter Azure Edition
• VM status in Azure portal: Running
• Connection methods tested: Direct RDP and Azure Bastion
• RDP port: TCP 3389
• Approximate issue start time: 2026-07-15 08:00

Symptoms:

The Virtual Machine appears as Running in the Azure portal, but it does not accept RDP connections.

The exact RDP error message is:

Remote Desktop cannot connect to the remote computer for one of the following reasons:

1) Remote access to the server is not enabled.
2) The remote computer is turned off.
3) The remote computer is not available on the network.

Make sure the remote computer is turned on and connected to the network, and that remote access is enabled.

When attempting to connect through Azure Bastion, we receive the following error:

"The target machine is unreachable. Please verify that your NSG rules allow traffic to ports 22 (SSH) and 3389 (RDP)."

Troubleshooting already performed:

• Confirmed that the Virtual Machine is running.
• Restarted the Virtual Machine from the Azure portal.
• Verified that the Network Security Group allows inbound TCP traffic on port 3389.
• Reviewed the effective security rules applied to the network interface.
• Ran Network Watcher / IP Flow Verify.
• IP Flow Verify reports that the connection is allowed.
• Ran the Azure connectivity diagnostics.
• The Azure diagnostics completed successfully and reported: "Completed diagnostics, no issues detected."
• Attempted to connect through both direct RDP and Azure Bastion.
• The issue still persists.

We need assistance determining whether the issue is related to:

1. The Remote Desktop Services service inside the operating system.
2. Windows Defender Firewall.
3. The Windows network stack.
4. The Azure VM Agent.
5. The network interface or effective network configuration.
6. The guest operating system configuration.
7. The Azure host or underlying platform.
8. A required VM repair or redeployment operation.

Please advise on the next troubleshooting steps.

If deeper investigation or access to subscription-specific information is required, please contact us through a private channel or escalate this issue to an Azure support ticket.

Thank you.