Operating system details

Some operating system images are customized specifically to run on Compute Engine and have notable differences from the standard images that come directly from the operating system vendors.

The following sections provide more information about these differences.

CentOS

CentOS Linux is a free operating system that is derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

CentOS Stream is a distribution that is continuously delivered and tracks just ahead of RHEL development. CentOS Stream is positioned as a midstream development platform between Fedora Linux and RHEL.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the RHEL yum-cron or dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The yum-cron or dnf-automatic does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• For CentOS 7, CentOS 8, and CentOS Stream, the upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard CentOS images

The CentOS and CentOS Stream images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard CentOS images:

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Cloud SDK.
• Repositories are set to use the CentOS default mirror network.
  • For CentOS 8 and CentOS Stream 8, the PowerTools repository is enabled.
  • For CentOS 7, EPEL is enabled.
• Automatic updates are configured as follows:
  • For CentOS 7, automatic updates are enabled by using yum-cron.
  • For CentOS 8 and CentOS Stream 8, automatic updates are enabled by using dnf automatic.
  • For all versions, the update_cmd property is set to security .However, by default CentOS does not offer security tagged repositories.
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the yum or dnf config files for all versions.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal CentOS methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.

Additional configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

Support

This operating system is supported by an open source project or community.

• For issues related to the operating system, please follow the CentOS community support guidance.
• For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
CentOS Stream 8	centos-cloud	centos-stream-8	Google	GA	May 2024	Free
CentOS 8	centos-cloud	centos-8	Google	GA	Dec 2021	Free
CentOS 7	centos-cloud	centos-7	Google	GA	June 30, 2024	Free
CentOS 6	N/A	N/A	N/A	EOL	November 30, 2020	N/A
CentOS 5	N/A	N/A	N/A	EOL	N/A	N/A

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS 8
CentOS 7
CentOS 6
CentOS 5

Container-Optimized OS (COS)

Container-Optimized OS from Google is an operating system image for your Compute Engine instances that is optimized for running Docker containers.

For more information about Container-Optimized OS, see the Container-Optimized OS overview.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using Automatic updates. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Container-Optimized OS images

Network configuration

• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Support

This operating system has premium support available for purchase. For information about purchasing and using premium support, see the Google Cloud support page.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
COS 89 LTS	cos-cloud	cos-89-lts	Google	GA	March 2023	Free
COS 85 LTS	cos-cloud	cos-85-lts	Google	GA	December 2021	Free
COS 81 LTS	cos-cloud	cos-81-lts	Google	GA	June 2021	Free
COS 77 LTS	cos-cloud	cos-77-lts	Google	GA	April 2021	Free
COS 73 LTS	EOL	EOL	Google	EOL	June 2020	Free
COS 69 LTS	EOL	EOL	Google	EOL	December 2019	Free

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
COS 89 LTS
COS 85 LTS
COS 81 LTS
COS 77 LTS
COS 73 LTS
COS 69 LTS

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
cos 89 LTS
cos 85 LTS
cos 81 LTS
cos 77 LTS
cos 73 LTS
cos 69 LTS

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
cos 89 LTS
cos 85 LTS
cos 81 LTS
cos 77 LTS
cos 73 LTS
cos 69 LTS

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
cos 89 LTS
cos 85 LTS
cos 81 LTS
cos 77 LTS
cos 73 LTS
cos 69 LTS

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
cos 89 LTS
cos 85 LTS
cos 81 LTS
cos 77 LTS
cos 73 LTS
cos 69 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
COS 89 LTS
COS 85 LTS
COS 81 LTS
COS 77 LTS
COS 73 LTS
COS 69 LTS

Debian

Debian is a free operating system offered by the Debian community.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Debian UnattendedUpgrades tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The UnattendedUpgrades tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The UnattendedUpgrades tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Debian security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Debian images

The Debian image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository.

• For Debian 10+, the build tools come from the Debian Cloud team image project.
• For Debian 9, build tools come from the now deprecated bootstrap-vz project.

Debian images are always built with the latest Debian packages which reflect the most recent Debian point release.

The Debian images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Debian images:

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Cloud SDK. The guest environment packages and the Cloud SDK packages are installed and enabled by default.
• The APT sources are set to use the Debian CDN.
• The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic.
• For Debian 10, the cloud-initramfs-growroot package is removed and replaced with the Google supported gce-disk-expand package.
• Debian 10+ includes the following:
  • The linux-image-cloud-amd64 kernel instead of the generic Debian kernel.
  • The haveged package to provide entropy.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • Root login is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
• Debian 9 does not use predictive network interface naming. In the grub kernel command-line arguments, net.ifnames=0 is set. Therefore, network interfaces still use the traditional ethN naming, with the default interface always being eth0.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

Additional Configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Support

This operating system is supported by an open source project or community.

• For issues related to the operating system, please follow the Debian community support guidance.
• For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
Debian 11	debian-cloud	debian-11	Google	GA	TBD	Free
Debian 10	debian-cloud	debian-10	Google	GA	TBD	Free
Debian 9	debian-cloud	debian-9	Google	LTS^1	June 2022	Free
Debian 8	debian-cloud	N/A	Google	EOL	June 2018	Free
Debian 7	debian-cloud	N/A	Google	EOL	April 2016	Free

¹Debian LTS: Debian is supporting this release with Debian LTS. Critical security updates are provided via the Debian LTS project for the duration of the LTS lifecycle.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
Debian 11
Debian 10
Debian 9
Debian 8
Debian 7

Fedora CoreOS

Fedora CoreOS is a distribution that provides features that are needed to run modern infrastructure stacks. Fedora CoreOS uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. Compute Engine provides Fedora CoreOS images built and supported by Fedora.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the FedoraCoreOS automatic update tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Fedora CoreOS images

Network configuration

• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Support

This operating system is supported by an open source project or community.

• For issues related to the operating system, please follow the Fedora CoreOS community support guidance.
• For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
Fedora CoreOS Stable	fedora-coreos-cloud	fedora-coreos-stable	Fedora	GA	TBD	Free
Fedora CoreOS Testing	fedora-coreos-cloud	fedora-coreos-testing	Fedora	GA	TBD	Free
Fedora CoreOS Next	fedora-coreos-cloud	fedora-coreos-next	Fedora	GA	TBD	Free

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
Fedora CoreOS Stable
Fedora CoreOS Testing
Fedora CoreOS Next

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is an open-source Linux operating system that provides both server and desktop operating systems.

RHEL images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. A Compute Engine RHEL image has an on-demand license and does not require a RHEL subscription. If you want to use an existing RHEL subscription, you can use the Red Hat Cloud Access feature.

To view a list of frequently asked questions when running RHEL on Compute Engine, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux FAQ.

Note: For compliance with Red Hat licensing requirements, Google reports to Red Hat your billing entity name, region, country, SKU and total hours of usage.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the RHEL yum-cron tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• For RHEL 7 and RHEL 8, the operating system is also configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard RHEL images

The RHEL image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository.

RHEL images are always built with the latest RHEL packages, which reflect the most recent point release. Currently, you cannot pin a VM to a point release.

RHEL for SAP images are tagged to the specific point release they are built for as supported by Red Hat.

The RHEL images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard RHEL images:

Package and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Cloud SDK.
• For RHEL 7, EPEL is enabled.
• RHEL for SAP yum vars are set to peg the client to the supported RHEL for SAP point release.
• RHEL content comes from the Compute Engine Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) servers.
• The Google RHUI client package, which contains the configuration needed to access RHEL content, is installed.
• The Red Hat subscription-manager package is removed because it is not used for RHUI.
• Automatic updates are enabled as follows:
  • For RHEL 7, by using yum-cron .
  • For RHEL 8+, by using dnf automatic.
  • For all versions, the update_cmd property is set to security .
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the yum or dnf config files.

Network Configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal RHEL methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.

Additional configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Support

Google partners with RedHat to provide support for RHEL images.

For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, complete one of the following steps:

• If you have paid support with Google Cloud, file a support case through Google Cloud support.
• Post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

In some cases, such as scenarios where the issue is directly tied to the operating system, Google Cloud works with the operating system vendor to help troubleshoot your issue.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
RHEL 8	rhel-cloud	rhel-8	Google	GA	May 2029	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 7	rhel-cloud	rhel-7	Google	GA	June 2024	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 6	N/A	N/A	N/A	EOS ELS	November 30, 2020 June 30, 2024	BYOS^2 ELS
RHEL 5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	BYOS^2
RHEL 8.4 for SAP	rhel-sap-cloud	rhel-8-4-sap-ha	Google	GA	May 2025	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 8.2 for SAP	rhel-sap-cloud	rhel-8-2-sap-ha	Google	GA	April 2024	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 8.1 for SAP	rhel-sap-cloud	rhel-8-1-sap-ha	Google	GA	November 2023	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 7.7 for SAP	rhel-sap-cloud	rhel-7-7-sap-ha	Google	GA	August 2023	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 7.6 for SAP	rhel-sap-cloud	rhel-7-6-sap-ha	Google	GA	October 2022	On demand/BYOS^1,2
RHEL 7.4 for SAP	N/A	N/A	Google	EOS	August 2021	BYOS^2

¹On demand: This OS is available from Google Cloud with an on-demand license.

²BYOS: You can apply your existing subscription or license from the OS vendor to the Google-provided OS image. For more information about working with existing license or subscription, contact your Google Cloud Technical Account Manager. The Google-provided image contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
RHEL 8
RHEL 7
RHEL 6
RHEL 5
RHEL 8.4 for SAP
RHEL 8.2 for SAP
RHEL 8.1 for SAP
RHEL 7.7 for SAP
RHEL 7.6 for SAP
RHEL 7.4 for SAP

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is a free, open, community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• dnf-automatic does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Rocky Linux images

The Rocky Linux images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Rocky Linux images:

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Cloud SDK.
• Repositories are set to use the Rocky Linux default mirror network.
  • The PowerTools repository is enabled.
• Automatic updates are configured as follows:
  • Automatic updates are enabled by using dnf automatic.
  • For all versions, theupdate_cmd property is set to security.However, by default Rocky Linux does not offer security tagged repositories.
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the dnf config file.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveIntervaland ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal Rocky Linux methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.

Additional configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

Support

This operating system is supported by an open source project or community.

• For issues related to the operating system, please follow the Rocky Linux community.
• For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
Rocky Linux 8	rocky-linux-cloud	rocky-linux-8	Google	GA	June 2031	Free

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Rocky Linux 8

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Rocky Linux 8

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Rocky Linux 8

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
Rocky Linux 8

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported*
Rocky Linux 8

^*Patch compliance reporting: For all supported Rocky Linux operating systems, you can run patch jobs and create patch deployments. However, patch compliance reporting is not supported and these VMs are displayed in the No data category on the OS patch management dashboard.

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
Rocky Linux 8

SQL Server

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to "Auto download and schedule the install" for Microsoft updates. To configure Windows Server automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates.

Notable differences from standard SQL Server images

• SQL Server images are similar to the standard Windows Server operating system images, but they include SQL Server preinstalled and have the same Notable differences as standard Windows Server images.
• Windows images provided by Google have a hardcoded MTU. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Support

Google partners with Microsoft to provide support for SQL Server images. If you have questions about using SQL Server images and have a support plan with Google Cloud, contact Google Cloud support. Otherwise, use the gce-discussion forum. If your issue is with the SQL Server image, Google Cloud reports the issue to Microsoft on your behalf.

Version support

Version	Image project	Image family	Enterprise	Standard	Web	Express
SQL Server 2019	windows-sql-cloud	sql-web-2019-win-2019 sql-std-2019-win-2019 sql-ent-2019-win-2019
SQL Server 2017	windows-sql-cloud	sql-web-2017-win-2019 sql-web-2017-win-2016 sql-std-2017-win-2019 sql-std-2017-win-2016 sql-exp-2017-win-2019 sql-exp-2017-win-2016 sql-exp-2017-win-2012-r2 sql-ent-2017-win-2019 sql-ent-2017-win-2016
SQL Server 2016	windows-sql-cloud	sql-web-2016-win-2019 sql-web-2016-win-2016 sql-web-2016-win-2012-r2 sql-std-2016-win-2019 sql-std-2016-win-2016 sql-std-2016-win-2012-r2 sql-ent-2016-win-2019 sql-ent-2016-win-2016 sql-ent-2016-win-2012-r2
SQL Server 2014	windows-sql-cloud	sql-web-2014-win-2012-r2 sql-std-2014-win-2012-r2 sql-ent-2014-win-2016 sql-ent-2014-win-2012-r2
SQL Server 2012	windows-sql-cloud	sql-web-2012-win-2012-r2 sql-std-2012-win-2012-r2 sql-ent-2012-win-2012-r2

Windows Server version support

Version	Windows 2012 R2	Windows 2016	Windows 2019
SQL Server 2019 Enterprise
SQL Server 2019 Standard
SQL Server 2019 Web
SQL Server 2017 Enterprise
SQL Server 2017 Standard
SQL Server 2017 Web
SQL Server 2017 Express
SQL Server 2016 Enterprise
SQL Server 2016 Standard
SQL Server 2016 Web
SQL Server 2014 Enterprise
SQL Server 2014 Standard
SQL Server 2014 Web
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise
SQL Server 2012 Standard
SQL Server 2012 Web

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), a versatile server operating system for deploying highly available enterprise-class IT services in mixed IT environments with improved performance and reduced risk.

SUSE images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use.

To view a list of frequently asked questions when running SLES on Compute Engine, see SUSE Linux Enterprise Server FAQ.

Note: For compliance with SUSE licensing requirements, Google reports to SUSE your billing entity name, region, country, SKU, and total hours of usage.

Automatic updates

This operating system is not configured to install updates by default. For more information about configuring automatic updates for SLES, see SUSE documentation.

Notable differences from standard SUSE images

Notable differences from standard SUSE images

SLES and SLES for SAP images are built and maintained by SUSE. SLES images are built with the latest SLES packages reflected in their release.

The SUSE images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard SUSE images:

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the packages that are supplied by SUSE.
• SLES instances register with a SUSE run SMT service for Compute Engine and are configured to use SUSE regional mirrors in Compute Engine.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• SLES does not use predictive network interface naming. In the grub kernel command-line arguments, net.ifnames=0 is set. Therefore, network interfaces use the traditional ethN naming, with the default interface always being eth0.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Additional configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Support

Google partners with SUSE to provide support for SUSE images.

For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, complete one of the following steps:

• If you have paid support with Google Cloud, file a support case through Google Cloud support.
• Post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

In some cases, such as scenarios where the issue is directly tied to the operating system, Google Cloud works with the operating system vendor to help troubleshoot your issue.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
SLES 15 SP3	suse-cloud	sles-15	SUSE	GA	TBD	On demand/BYOS^1,2
SLES 15 SP2	suse-byos-cloud	N/A	SUSE	GA	Dec 2024	BYOS^2
SLES 15 SP1	suse-byos-cloud	N/A	SUSE	GA	Jan 2024	BYOS^2
SLES 15	suse-byos-cloud	N/A	SUSE	GA	Dec 2022	BYOS^2
SLES 12 SP5	suse-cloud	sles-12	SUSE	GA	Oct 2027	On demand/BYOS^1,2
SLES 12 SP4	suse-byos-cloud	N/A	SUSE	GA	June 2023	BYOS^2
SLES 12 SP3	suse-byos-cloud	N/A	SUSE	GA	June 2022	BYOS^2
SLES 12 SP2	N/A	N/A	SUSE	EOL	March 2021	EOL
SLES 12 SP1	N/A	N/A	SUSE	EOL	May 2020	EOL
SLES 11 SP4	suse-byos-cloud	sles-11-byos	SUSE	LTSS^3	March 2022	BYOS^2 with LTSS^3
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-15-sp3-sap	SUSE	GA	TBD	On demand/BYOS
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-15-sp2-sap	SUSE	GA	Dec 2024	On demand/BYOS
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-15-sp1-sap	SUSE	GA	Jan 2024	On demand/BYOS
SLES 15 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-15-sap	SUSE	GA	Dec 2022	On demand/BYOS^1,2
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-12-sp5-sap	SUSE	GA	Oct 2027	On demand/BYOS^1,2
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-12-sp4-sap	SUSE	GA	June 2023	On demand/BYOS
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP	suse-sap-cloud	sles-12-sp3-sap	SUSE	GA	June 2022	On demand/BYOS^1,2
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP	N/A	N/A	SUSE	EOL	March 2021	EOL
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP	N/A	N/A	SUSE	EOL	May 2020	EOL

¹On demand: This OS is available from Google Cloud with an on-demand license.

²BYOS: You can apply your existing subscription from SUSE using the BYOS OS image from the suse-byos-cloud project. The image that is provided by SUSE for BYOS contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

³LTSS: Support for this operating system is only offered through the Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) that is available when using BYOS licenses from SUSE.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

Compute optimization

Note:V100 GPUs are not supported on SLES.

OS version	GPU supported
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported*
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

^*Patch compliance reporting: For all SUSE Enterprise Linux Server (SLES) operating systems, including SLES for SAP and openSuse, you can run patch jobs and create patch deployments. However, patch compliance reporting is not supported and these VMs are displayed in the No data category on the OS patch management dashboard.

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
SLES 15 SP3
SLES 15 SP2
SLES 15 SP1
SLES 15
SLES 12 SP5
SLES 12 SP4
SLES 12 SP3
SLES 12 SP2
SLES 12 SP1
SLES 11 SP4
SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
SLES 15 for SAP
SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
SLES 12 SP3 for SAP
SLES 12 SP2 for SAP
SLES 12 SP1 for SAP

Ubuntu LTS

Ubuntu is a free operating system developed and supported by Canonical.

Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) images receive bug fixes and security updates for five years after their release date. LTS images can run on your instances for several years without having to upgrade to a newer release.

Ubuntu Minimal images are supported the same as Ubuntu LTS images.

Regular (non LTS) Ubuntu images are supported for 9 months from their release date. To continue to use a regular Ubuntu image, you will have to upgrade to the next regular Ubuntu release or LTS release after the support cycle ends to receive fixes and updates. Compute Engine recommends using Ubuntu LTS images unless you require features or software packages that are not yet included in an LTS release. If your instances run Ubuntu releases that are no longer supported, upgrade to a supported Ubuntu release.

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS has reached end of maintenance as of April 30, 2021. For more information, see Ubuntu 16.04 LTS end of maintenance.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Ubuntu images

Ubuntu images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

The Ubuntu images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages.
• For Ubuntu 18.04+, the Cloud SDK is installed and maintained as a snap package.
• The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via cloud-init.
• The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic.
• The linux-image-gcp kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

Network Configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

Additional configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• Ubuntu uses cloud-init to do some boot time initialization. The cloud.cfg file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the cloud-init modules that are used.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Support

This operating system is supported by an open source project or community.

• For issues related to the operating system, please follow the Ubuntu community support guidance.
• For questions specific to using this operating system on Google Cloud, post your questions to the gce-discussion forum.

This operating system also has premium support available for purchase from Ubuntu. For information about purchasing and using premium support, see the Ubuntu documentation.

General information

For information about non LTS Ubuntu releases, see Ubuntu release wiki.

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS	ubuntu-os-cloud	ubuntu-2004-lts	Canonical	GA	April 2025 (ESM April 2030)	Free
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS	ubuntu-os-cloud	ubuntu-1804-lts	Canonical	GA	April 2023 (ESM April 2028)	Free
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS	N/A	N/A	Canonical	Ubuntu ESM^1 / Ubuntu Pro^2	April 2021 (ESM April 2026)	Ubuntu ESM^1 / Ubuntu Pro^2
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS	N/A	N/A	Canonical	Ubuntu ESM^1	April 2024	Ubuntu ESM^1
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS	N/A	N/A	Canonical	EOL	April 2017	EOL

¹Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

²Ubuntu Pro: To continue using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS images, you can also switch to Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Ubuntu Pro

Ubuntu Pro is a premium operating system developed and supported by Canonical.

Ubuntu Pro images running on Compute Engine receive bug fixes and security updates for 10 years after their release date, along with access to Ubuntu ESM. For Ubuntu 16.04, security updates and ESM are available for 8 years.

Ubuntu Pro images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. For information about Ubuntu Pro license cost, see the Ubuntu Pro pricing page. An Ubuntu Pro image running on Compute Engine has an on-demand license and does not require an additional Ubuntu Pro subscription.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Notable differences from standard Ubuntu images

Ubuntu Pro images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu Pro images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

The Ubuntu Pro images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages.
• The Cloud SDK is installed and maintained as a snap package.
• The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via cloud-init.
• The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic.
• The linux-image-gcp kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

Network Configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

Additional configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• Ubuntu uses cloud-init to do some boot time initialization. The cloud.cfg file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the cloud-init modules that are used.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Support

This operating system has premium support available for purchase from Ubuntu. For information about purchasing and using premium support, see the Ubuntu documentation.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage	EOL and image deprecation date	License model
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS	ubuntu-os-pro-cloud	ubuntu-pro-2004-lts	Canonical	GA	April 2030	On Demand
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS	ubuntu-os-pro-cloud	ubuntu-pro-1804-lts	Canonical	GA	April 2028	On Demand
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS	ubuntu-os-pro-cloud	ubuntu-pro-1604-lts	Canonical	GA	April 2026	On Demand

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Compute optimization

OS version	GPU supported
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate for Compute Engine, see supported operating systems.

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Windows client

Google doesn't provide Windows client images. You must bring your own Windows client images.

Automatic updates

The Windows client update settings determine how versions of Windows client use Windows Updates. To configure Windows automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates.

Support

Although Google supports bringing your own licenses, but not the image, with Windows client, Google does not provide support for the Windows client image. For licensing support, which is included in your BYOL contract, please contact Microsoft Support. For questions about tools related to BYOL, please contact Google Cloud support.

General information

OS version	Built by	Support stage^1	License model
Windows 10 x64	N/A	Via migration	BYOL
Windows 10 x86	N/A	Via migration	BYOL
Windows 8.1 x64	N/A	Via migration	BYOL
Windows 8.1 x86	N/A	Via migration	BYOL
Windows 7 x64^2	N/A	Via migration; EOL	BYOL
Windows 7 x86^2	N/A	Via migration; EOL	BYOL

¹Google Support typically coincides with Extended Support End Date. For information about the end of support (EOS) date for each of the operating systems in the table below, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.
²For information about Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 7, see Microsoft's Extended Security Updates Lifecycle FAQ.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Windows 10 x64
Windows 10 x86
Windows 8.1 x64
Windows 8.1 x86
Windows 7 x64
Windows 7 x86

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Windows 10 x64	N/A	N/A	N/A
Windows 10 x86	N/A	N/A	N/A
Windows 8.1 x64	N/A	N/A	N/A
Windows 8.1 x86	N/A	N/A	N/A
Windows 7 x64	N/A	N/A	N/A
Windows 7 x86	N/A	N/A	N/A

Compute optimization

NVIDIA® A100 GPUs are not supported on Windows operating systems.

OS version	GPUs supported
Windows 10 x64
Windows 10 x86
Windows 8.1 x64
Windows 8.1 x86
Windows 7 x64	^1
Windows 7 x86	^1

¹v100 GPUs not supported.

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Windows 10 x64
Windows 10 x86
Windows 8.1 x64
Windows 8.1 x86
Windows 7 x64
Windows 7 x86

Storage

OS version	NVMe supported^1	VSS agent^2
Windows 10 x64
Windows 10 x86
Windows 8.1 x64
Windows 8.1 x86
Windows 7 x64
Windows 7 x86

¹Google provides NVMe drivers for 64-bit Windows images, but not for 32-bit Windows images. Google tests a limited number of Windows client versions. For images that require Secure Boot, Google provides signed NVMe drivers for Windows 8.1 64-bit, which you can also use on Windows 10.
²Google does not test the VSS agent on any client images.

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Windows 10 x64
Windows 10 x86
Windows 8.1 x64
Windows 8.1 x86
Windows 7 x64
Windows 7 x86

Windows Server

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to "Auto download and schedule the install" for Microsoft updates. To configure Windows Server automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates.

Notable differences from standard Windows Server images

Windows Server images are built with the latest updates, but have the following differences in configuration from standard Windows Server images:

Account configuration

• The Administrator account is disabled.
• User passwords must be at least eight characters long.
• The LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy property is enabled to grant access to administrative file shares.

Activation configuration

• Windows Server images cannot activate without a network connection to kms.windows.googlecloud.com, and stop functioning if they do not authenticate within 30 days. Make sure to allow access in your VPC network.
• A KMS client key is installed and the KMS client is set to activate by using the Compute Engine KMS servers.

Bootloader configuration

• BootStatusPolicy is set to IgnoreAllFailures.
• Emergency Management Services (EMS) redirection is enabled on the COM2 port. For more information, see bootcfg ems.

Network configuration

• The Compute Engine metadata server is added to the hosts file, which is typically in the %WinDir%\System32\drivers\etc directory.
• The Windows firewall is open to allow communication with the Compute Engine metadata server.
• TCP KeepAliveTime is set to 5 minutes.
• Web Proxy Auto Discovery (WPAD) is disabled.
• The NetKVM adapter is set to use DHCP.
• Remote Desktop (RDP) is enabled and the associated Windows firewall ports opened.
• WinRM over HTTPS is configured using a self signed certificate and the associated Windows firewall ports are open.
• Windows images provided by Google have a hardcoded MTU. For more information about network and interface MTU, see Maximum transmission unit.

Package system and Windows Update

• Windows Server images update automatically according to the default update schedule for Windows Server.
• To install packages for the guest environment, Google Cloud repositories are enabled.
• To manage Compute Engine component packages for Windows, GooGet is installed, which you can configure to update packages automatically.
• The Cloud SDK is installed with its own Python 2.7 environment. Cloud SDK works with project service accounts, instance scopes, and works in PowerShell and the standard command-line environment.
• To boot Windows on Compute Engine, Compute Engine drivers are installed.
• PowerShell v5 and v7 are installed.

Power configuration

• Power settings are changed to never turn off the monitor.

Storage configuration

• The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI.
• The paging file is set to a static size of 1 GB.
• The EnableQueryAccessAlignment property is enabled for the VioSCSI driver.

Time configuration

• The RealTimeIsUniversal registry key is set. The BIOS is a UTC clock, and is not set to the local time.
• The time zone is set to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
• NTP is set to sync to the Compute Engine metadata server.

Support

Google partners with Microsoft to provide support for Windows Server images. If you have questions about using Windows Server images and have a support plan with Google Cloud, contact Google Cloud support. Otherwise, use the gce-discussion forum. If your issue is with the Windows Server image, Google Cloud reports the issue to Microsoft on your behalf. For more information about the support policy for OS images, see Support policy for OS images.

General information

OS version	Image project	Image family	Built by	Support stage^1	License model
Windows Server 2019	windows-cloud	windows-2019 windows-2019-for-containers windows-2019-core windows-2019-core-for-containers	Google	GA	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 2016	windows-cloud	windows-2016 windows-2016-core	Google	GA	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 2012 R2	windows-cloud	windows-2012-r2 windows-2012-r2-core	Google	GA	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 2012	N/A	N/A	N/A	Via migration	BYOL
Windows Server 2008 R2^2 (SP1 required)	N/A	N/A	N/A	Via migration; EOL	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 2008	N/A	N/A	N/A	Via migration; EOL	BYOL
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)	N/A	N/A	N/A	Via migration; EOL	BYOL
Windows Server 20h2	windows-cloud	windows-20h2-core	Google	GA	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 2004	windows-cloud	windows-2004-core	Google	GA	On-demand / BYOL
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	N/A	N/A	N/A	EOL	EOL

¹Google Support typically coincides with Extended Support End Date. For information about the end of support (EOS) date for each of the operating systems in the table below, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.
²For information about Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 2008 R2, see Microsoft's Extended Security Updates Lifecycle FAQ.

Upstream support stage

OS version	Servicing channel^1	Support ends
Windows Server 2019	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2019 for Containers	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2019 Core	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2019 Core for Containers	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2016	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2016 Core	LTSC	TBD
Windows Server 2012 R2	LTSC	October 10, 2023
Windows Server 2012 R2 Core	LTSC	October 10, 2023
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2	LTSC	January 14, 2020
Windows Server 20h2 Core	SAC	May 10, 2022
Windows Server 2004 Core	SAC	December 14, 2021
Windows Server 1909 Core	SAC	May 11, 2021
Windows Server 1909 Core for Containers	SAC	May 11, 2021
Windows Server 1903 Core	SAC	December 8, 2020
Windows Server 1903 Core for Containers	SAC	December 8, 2020
Windows Server 1809 Core	SAC	May 12, 2020
Windows Server 1809 Core for Containers	SAC	May 12, 2020
Windows Server 1803 Core	SAC	November 12, 2019
Windows Server 1803 Core for Containers	SAC	November 12, 2019

¹LTSC refers to the Long-Term Servicing Channel, and SAC refers to the Semi-Annual Channel. For more information, see Windows Server servicing channels.

Security features

OS version	Shielded VM support
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)
Windows Server 20h2
Windows Server 2004
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL

User space features

OS version	Guest environment installed	gcloud CLI installed	OS Login supported
Windows Server 2019			N/A
Windows Server 2016			N/A
Windows Server 2012 R2			N/A
Windows Server 2012			N/A
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)			N/A
Windows Server 2008	EOL		N/A
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)	EOL		N/A
Windows Server 20h2			N/A
Windows Server 2004			N/A
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL		N/A

Compute optimization

NVIDIA® A100 GPUs are not supported on Windows operating systems.

OS version	GPUs supported
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)	^1
Windows Server 2008	^1
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)	^1
Windows Server 20h2
Windows Server 2004
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL

¹v100 GPUs not supported.

Import

OS version	Import disk	Import virtual appliance	Import machine image	Migrate for Compute Engine
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012				^1
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)				^2
Windows Server 2008				^3
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)	^4	^4	^4	^5
Windows Server 20h2				^6
Windows Server 2004				^6
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL	EOL	EOL	EOL

¹VSS not supported.
²Supported with deprecated Python agent.
³64-bit supported, 32 bit only supported for offline migration with manual adaptations.
⁴Self-import is available.
⁵Only supported for offline migration with manual adaptions.
⁶Not tested by Google.

Networking

OS version	Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) supported	Multiple network interfaces supported
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)
Windows Server 20h2
Windows Server 2004
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL	EOL

Storage

OS version	NVMe supported^1	VSS agent
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)
Windows Server 20h2
Windows Server 2004
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL	EOL

¹Google provides NVMe drivers for 64-bit Windows images, but not for 32-bit Windows images.
²Image is past its end of support (EOS) date.

VM Manager

OS version	OS Config agent installed	OS inventory supported	OS configuration supported	OS patch supported
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP1 required)
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2003 (R2 optional, SP2 required)
Windows Server 20h2
Windows Server 2004
Windows Server 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, 1909	EOL	EOL	EOL	EOL