# How to connect to a Google Cloud PostgreSQL 15.2 SQL instance remotely from Windows

I had previously .installed PostgreSQL 15.2 on my Windows 11 machine

Stop a running instance of PostgreSQL on locahost:5432

```bash
net stop postgresql-x64-15
```

Create a new SQL instance at [https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/](https://console.cloud.google.com/sql/)

I choose PostgreSQL, it's similar to MySQL.

Create a database ***and*** a user for that instance and note down the passwords.

Note down the connection name which would be something like this : `somename-name-987654:asia-south1:instanceName`

It'll be in the Overview tab on the left-hand menu.

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1695870134560/9497c2ad-50a2-4f34-9cec-beba5dad6a7e.png align="center")

Authenticate and acquire credentials for the API - `gcloud auth application-default login`

Download Google Cloud SQL proxy from [https://storage.googleapis.com/cloud-sql-connectors/cloud-sql-proxy/v2.7.0/cloud-sql-proxy.x64.exe](https://storage.googleapis.com/cloud-sql-connectors/cloud-sql-proxy/v2.7.0/cloud-sql-proxy.x64.exe) and rename it to cloud-sql-proxy.exe in C:\\ (in C: drive just for simplicity)

Run it like this : `PS C:> .\cloud-sql-proxy.exe somename-name-987654:asia-south1:instanceName`

This will run the proxy at 127.0.0.1 on port 5432 which is the same host and port for a local PostgreSQL running on your Windows, hence I had to stop the existing PostgreSQL running on my machine. Instead, run your local Windows-based PostgreSQL instance on a different port if you want local and Google's local proxy running at the same time.

More info at: [https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/postgres/connect-instance-auth-proxy](https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/postgres/connect-instance-auth-proxy)

Enter the details in Table Plus - replace myUser & myDatabase with your username you created in Google Cloud Console.

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1695869014219/a097a7be-72e8-481d-b5ab-f07600698a0e.jpeg align="center")

Test and it should connect. It's super fast on my laptop so as good as localhost.

This is super useful if you want to just have the database hosted on a separate location whereas the application can be elsewhere (cloud or otherwise).