Use operating system (OS) images to create boot disks for your virtual machine (VM) instances. You can use one of the following OS image types:
- Public OS images are provided and maintained by Google, open source communities, and third-party vendors. By default, all Google Cloud projects have access to these OS images and can use them to create VM instances.
- Custom OS images are available only to your Google Cloud project. You can create a custom OS image from boot disks and other images. Then, use the custom OS image to create VM instances.
Some OS images are also capable of running containers on Compute Engine.
Public OS images
Compute Engine offers many preconfigured public OS images that have compatible Linux or Windows operating systems. Use these OS images to create and start instances. Compute Engine uses your selected image to create a persistent boot disk for each VM. By default, the boot disk for a VM is the same size as the image that you selected. If your VM requires a larger boot disk than the image size, resize the boot disk.
List of public OS images available on Compute Engine
To see a full list of public OS images with each image's name, size, and version number, you can use the Google Cloud console or the Google Cloud CLI. Compute Engine updates public OS images regularly, or when a patch for a critical impact common vulnerability and exposure (CVE) is available.
Compute Engine provides 64-bit versions of these public OS images. For more information about each OS, including how each OS is customized to run on Compute Engine, see Operating system details.
Console
In the Google Cloud console, go to the Images page.
By default, the Google Cloud console list all OS images available in the Compute Engine images, Deep Learning VM Images, and HPC images projects.
gcloud
gcloud compute images list
By default, the gcloud CLI list all OS images available in the Compute Engine images projects.
Custom OS images
A custom OS image is a boot disk image that you own and control access to. Use custom OS images for the following tasks:
Import a virtual disk to Compute Engine from your on-premises environment or from VMs that are running on your local workstation or on another cloud platform. You can manually import boot disk images to Compute Engine, but one disk at a time.
Create an image from the boot disks of your existing Compute Engine VM instances. Then use that image to create new boot disks for your VMs. This process lets you create new VMs that are preconfigured with the apps that you need without having to configure a public OS image from scratch.
Copy one image to another image by using either the gcloud CLI or the API. Use the same process that you use to create an image, but specify another image as the image source. You can also create an image from a custom image in a different project.
Guest operating system features
Some guest operating system features are available only on certain OS images. For example, multiqueue SCSI is enabled only on some public OS images.
To enable these features on your custom OS images, specify one or more guest operating system features when you create a custom OS image.
OS image costs
Premium OS images, whether public or custom, incur licensing fees to run on Compute Engine. You have two options:
- Attach an on-demand/pay-as-you-go (PAYG) license
Bring your own license (BYOL)/Bring your own subscription (BYOS)
For more information about licenses, see License types and pricing.
For custom OS images, you also incur an image storage charge while you keep your custom OS image in your project.
Image families
Image families help you manage images in your project by
grouping related images together, so that you can roll forward and
roll back between specific image versions. An image family always points to the
latest version of an OS image that is not deprecated.
Most public OS images are grouped into an image
family. For example, the debian-11
image family in the debian-cloud
project
always points to the most recent Debian 11 image.
Custom image families
If you regularly update your custom OS images with newer configurations and software, you can group those images into a custom image family. The image family always points to the most recent OS image in that family, so your instance templates and scripts can use that image without having to update references to a specific image version.
Also, because the image family never points to a deprecated image, you can roll the image family back to a previous OS image version by deprecating the most recent image in that family.
For more information, see Setting image versions in an image family.
For best practices recommendations when working with image families, see Image families best practices.
Partner supported operating systems
These are operating systems that you can run on Google Cloud, but the partner or distributor is responsible for ensuring that these operating systems work with Google Cloud features and that security updates are maintained. For issues specific to the partner supported operating systems, you must use either community resources or get enterprise-level support from the partner.
The following partner supported operating systems can run on Google Cloud.
Oracle Linux
Oracle Linux is an operating system that is offered by Oracle. Oracle Linux images aren't available on Google Cloud. However, you can import Oracle Linux images to Google Cloud.
If you require support that is specific to the Oracle Linux operating system, you can either consult community resources, or get enterprise-level support directly from Oracle.
Import Oracle Linux OS images
To import Oracle Linux OS image to Compute Engine, you can use the import tool available from Migrate to Virtual Machines. This tool ensures the imported OS images are set up correctly for working in a Google Cloud environment. For detailed instructions, see Import virtual disk images. For a list of the Oracle Linux OS versions supported for import, see Operating systems supported by partners.
Community supported OS images
Community-supported OS images are not directly supported by Google Cloud. It is up to the project community to ensure that these OS images work with Google Cloud features and that security updates are maintained. Community-supported images are provided as-is by the project communities that build and maintain them.
The following community supported images can run on Google Cloud.
AlmaLinux
AlmaLinux is an operating system offered by the
AlmaLinux project.
AlmaLinux images are available in the almalinux-cloud
project. To
list AlmaLinux OS images, use the following gcloud
command:
gcloud compute images list --project almalinux-cloud --no-standard-images
Fedora Cloud
Fedora Cloud is an operating system maintained by the
Fedora Cloud project.
Fedora Cloud images are available in the fedora-cloud
project. To list
Fedora Cloud OS images, use the following gcloud
command:
gcloud compute images list --project fedora-cloud --no-standard-images
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is an operating system maintained by the FreeBSD
project.
FreeBSD images are available in the freebsd-org-cloud-dev
project. To list
FreeBSD OS images, use the following gcloud
command:
gcloud compute images list --project freebsd-org-cloud-dev --no-standard-images
gVNIC support for FreeBSD (Preview) is available with release 14.0 and later. To use gVNIC with other releases, the driver can be installed manually.
To create a VM that uses gVNIC with a FreeBSD release earlier than 14.0, you must create a custom OS image that supports gVNIC and then use that OS image when creating the VM.
openSUSE
openSUSE
is a Linux-based operating system sponsored by SUSE. openSUSE images are
available in the opensuse-cloud
project. To list openSUSE OS images, use the
following gcloud
command:
gcloud compute images list --project opensuse-cloud --no-standard-images
HPC OS images
The following OS images are available for creating VMs that are optimized to run high performance computing (HPC) workloads on Compute Engine:
For CentOS 7:
- Image family:
hpc-centos-7
, Image project:cloud-hpc-image-public
For Rocky Linux 8:
- Image family:
hpc-rocky-linux-8
, Image project:cloud-hpc-image-public
For information about using this OS image, see Creating an HPC-ready VM instance.
What's next
- View the source image for a VM instance.
- Read Image management best practices.
- Learn about Support and maintenance policy for OS images.
- Create and start an instance.
- Read about Compute Engine instances.
- Create a custom image.
- Build an image from scratch.
Try it for yourself
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