# Accessing the VM console

The vCloud Director interface offers two ways to connect to the console of the VM to manage it without requiring a direct network connection to the VM itself.

The two ways to connect are:

* Web Console, this launches a HTML5 console session to the VM
* Remote Console, this launches the 'VMware Remote Console' which requires additional software to be installed to use

To access one of the two consoles follow the steps below:

**Step 1.** Login to the vCloud Director portal

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**Step 2.** Select the Virtual Datacenter that has the VM you want to access the console of

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**Step 3.** The portal should show the default view of all the Virtual Machines in the Virtual Datacenter, find the VM you want to access and click the 'Actions' button

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**Step 4.** From the dropdown menu go to 'VM Console' and then select one of the two methods to open the VM console.

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