Copying VMs between projects

Linux Windows

This document describes how to copy your VM to a different project.

Before you begin

Review Best practices for persistent disk snapshots and prepare your boot disk for snapshots.
If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine as follows.
1. Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:
```
gcloud init
```
  Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
2. Set a default region and zone.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to copy VM between projects, ask your administrator to grant you the Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to copy VM between projects. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to copy VM between projects:

compute.instances.create on the project
To use a custom image to create the VM: compute.images.useReadOnly on the image
To use a snapshot to create the VM: compute.snapshots.useReadOnly on the snapshot
To use an instance template to create the VM: compute.instanceTemplates.useReadOnly on the instance template
To assign a legacy network to the VM: compute.networks.use on the project
To specify a static IP address for the VM: compute.addresses.use on the project
To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a legacy network: compute.networks.useExternalIp on the project
To specify a subnet for your VM: compute.subnetworks.use on the project or on the chosen subnet
To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a VPC network: compute.subnetworks.useExternalIp on the project or on the chosen subnet
To set VM instance metadata for the VM: compute.instances.setMetadata on the project
To set tags for the VM: compute.instances.setTags on the VM
To set labels for the VM: compute.instances.setLabels on the VM
To set a service account for the VM to use: compute.instances.setServiceAccount on the VM
To create a new disk for the VM: compute.disks.create on the project
To attach an existing disk in read-only or read-write mode: compute.disks.use on the disk
To attach an existing disk in read-only mode: compute.disks.useReadOnly on the disk

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

Copy a VM to another project

In your source project, create a snapshot of the VM's boot disk, using one of the following commands:
Zonal boot disk
If your VM has a zonal boot disk, create a snapshot using the following command:
```
gcloud compute snapshots create SNAPSHOT_NAME \
    --source-disk SOURCE_DISK \
    --snapshot-type SNAPSHOT_TYPE \
    --source-disk-zone SOURCE_DISK_ZONE
```
Replace the following:
- SNAPSHOT_NAME: A name for the snapshot.
- SOURCE_DISK: The name of the zonal Persistent Disk volume from which you want to create a snapshot.
- SNAPSHOT_TYPE: The snapshot type, either STANDARD or ARCHIVE. If a snapshot type is not specified, a STANDARD snapshot is created. Choose Archive for more cost-efficient data retention.
- SOURCE_DISK_ZONE: The zone of the zonal Persistent Disk volume from which you want to create a snapshot.
Regional boot disk
If your VM has a regional boot disk, create a snapshot using the following command:
```
gcloud compute snapshots create SNAPSHOT_NAME \
    --source-disk SOURCE_DISK \
    --source-disk-region=SOURCE_DISK_REGION \
    --snapshot-type=SNAPSHOT_TYPE
```
Replace the following:
- SNAPSHOT_NAME: A name for the snapshot.
- SOURCE_DISK: The name of the regional Persistent Disk volume from which you want to create a snapshot.
- SOURCE_DISK_REGION: The region of the regional Persistent Disk volume from which you want to create a snapshot.
- SNAPSHOT_TYPE: The snapshot type, either STANDARD or ARCHIVE. If a snapshot type is not specified, a STANDARD snapshot is created.
Create a custom image from the snapshot using the following command:
```
gcloud compute images create IMAGE_NAME \
    --source-snapshot=SOURCE_SNAPSHOT \
    [--storage-location=LOCATION]
```
Replace the following:
- IMAGE_NAME: a name for the new image
- SOURCE_SNAPSHOT: the snapshot from which you want to create the image
- LOCATION: Optional: a flag that lets you designate the region or multi-region where your image is stored. For example, specify us to store the image in the us multi-region, or us-central1 to store it in the us-central1 region. If you don't make a selection, Compute Engine stores the image in the multi-region closest to your image's source location.
Optional: Share the custom image with users who create VMs in the destination project. For more information about sharing custom images, see Sharing custom image within an organization.
In your destination project, create a VM from the custom image using the following command:
```
gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME \
    --image-project IMAGE_PROJECT \
    [--image IMAGE | --image-family IMAGE_FAMILY]
    --subnet SUBNET
```
Replace the following:
- VM_NAME: name of the VM
- IMAGE_PROJECT: name of the project that contains the image
- IMAGE or IMAGE_FAMILY: specify one of the following:
  - IMAGE: name of your custom image
    For example, --image=my-debian-image-v2.
  - IMAGE_FAMILY: if you created your custom images as part of a custom image family, specify that custom image family.
    This creates the VM from the most recent, non-deprecated OS image and OS version in your custom image family. For example, if you specify --image-family=my-debian-family, Compute Engine creates a VM from the latest OS image in your custom my-debian-family image family.
  Note: Compute Engine uses the default image family and project if you don't specify an image. The default image family and project are debian-10 and debian-cloud, respectively.
- SUBNET: If the subnet and instance are in the same project, replace SUBNET with the name of a subnet that is in the same region as the instance.
  
  To specify a subnet in a Shared VPC network, replace SUBNET with a string of the form:
```
        projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/subnetworks/SUBNET_NAME
       
```
  Replace the following:
  - HOST_PROJECT_ID is the project ID of the Shared VPC host project
  - REGION is the region of the subnet
  - SUBNET_NAME is the name of the subnet
  The region of the subnet for a shared VPC network must also match the region containing the instance.

What's next

Customize the destination project's VPC network.