Stop and start a VM

Linux Windows

---

This page describes how to stop and start a virtual machine (VM) instance. Note that Compute Engine uses STOP and TERMINATE interchangeably. To suspend and resume a VM, read Suspending and resuming a VM. For more information about stopping and suspending a VM, see VM instance life cycle.

In most cases, you can stop a VM temporarily if you no longer need it and start it again later. For exceptions, see Restrictions. A stopped VM retains its persistent disks, its internal IPs, and its MAC addresses. However, the VM shuts down the guest OS and loses its application state. If you need to retain the guest OS and application state, suspend the VM instead. Essentially, a stopped VM resets to its power-on state and no data is saved. Stop a VM if you want to change the machine type, add or remove attached disks, change the minimum CPU platform, add or remove GPUs, or apply machine type recommendations.

Stopping a VM causes Compute Engine to send the ACPI shutdown signal to the VM. Modern guest operating systems (OS) are configured to perform a clean shutdown before powering off in response to the power off signal. Compute Engine waits a short time for the guest OS to finish shutting down and then transitions the VM to the TERMINATED state.

Before you begin

• If you want to use the command-line examples in this guide, do the following:
  1. Install or update to the latest version of the Google Cloud CLI.
  2. Set a default region and zone.
• If you want to use the API examples in this guide, set up API access.

Restrictions

You cannot stop or start a VM with a local SSD attached. However, if the VM uses local SSDs, Compute Engine does not prevent you from shutting down the VM from inside the guest OS. If you do shut down a VM using local SSDs through the guest OS, then you can't start the VM again later, and the data on the local SSD is lost. Make sure that you migrate your critical data from the local SSD to a persistent disk or to another VM before deleting the VM.

Billing

VMs in the TERMINATED state are not charged for per-second usage and do not count toward your regional CPU quota. However, any resources attached to the VM, such as persistent disks and external IP addresses, are charged until they are deleted. To stop being charged for attached resources, you can reconfigure a stopped VM to detach those resources, and then delete the resources.

You can choose to stop VMs that you're not using, saving you from being charged for VMs that aren't active. When you are ready, you can start the VMs again, with the same VM properties, metadata, and resources.

Stop a VM

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.stop on the VM

To stop a VM, use the Google Cloud console, the gcloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API.

Console

1. In the Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Select one or more VMs that you want to stop.

3. Click Stop.

gcloud

To stop a VM, use the gcloud compute instances stop command and specify one or more VMs that you want to stop:

gcloud compute instances stop VM_NAME

Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM you want to stop.

API

To stop a VM, construct a POST request using the instances.stop method:

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/stop

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project your VM is in
• ZONE: the zone where your VM is located
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM you want to stop

Go

compute/stop_instance.go

View on GitHub

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/compute/v1"
)

// stopInstance stops a started Google Compute Engine instance
func stopInstance(w io.Writer, projectID, zone, instanceName string) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	req := &computepb.StopInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Stop(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to stop instance: %v", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance stopped\n")

	return nil
}

Java

compute/cloud-client/src/main/java/compute/StopInstance.java

View on GitHub

import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.StopInstanceRequest;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class StopInstance {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    /* project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
       zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
       instanceName: name of the instance your want to stop.
     */
    String project = "your-project-id";
    String zone = "zone-name";
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    stopInstance(project, zone, instanceName);
  }

  // Stops a started Google Compute Engine instance.
  public static void stopInstance(String project, String zone, String instanceName)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    /* Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
       once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
       the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
       clean up any remaining background resources. */
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      StopInstanceRequest stopInstanceRequest = StopInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(project)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstance(instanceName)
          .build();

      OperationFuture<Operation, Operation> operation = instancesClient.stopAsync(
          stopInstanceRequest);
      Operation response = operation.get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.getStatus() == Status.DONE) {
        System.out.println("Instance stopped successfully ! ");
      }
    }
  }
}

Node.js

samples/stopInstance.js

View on GitHub

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b'
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME'

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function stopInstance() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [response] = await instancesClient.stop({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance stopped.');
}

stopInstance();

PHP

compute/cloud-client/instances/src/stop_instance.php

View on GitHub

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesClient;

/**
 * Stops a running Google Compute Engine instance.
 *
 * @param string $projectId Project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $zone Name of the zone your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $instanceName Name of the instance you want to stop.
  *
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails.
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ValidationException if local error occurs before remote call.
 */
function stop_instance(
    string $projectId,
    string $zone,
    string $instanceName
) {
    // Stop the Compute Engine instance using InstancesClient.
    $instancesClient = new InstancesClient();
    $operation = $instancesClient->stop($instanceName, $projectId, $zone);

    // Wait for the operation to complete.
    $operation->pollUntilComplete();
    if ($operation->operationSucceeded()) {
        printf('Instance %s stopped successfully' . PHP_EOL, $instanceName);
    } else {
        $error = $operation->getError();
        printf('Failed to stop instance: %s' . PHP_EOL, $error->getMessage());
    }
}

Python

samples/snippets/instances/stop.py

View on GitHub

import sys
import time
from typing import Any

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    This method will wait for the extended (long-running) operation to
    complete. If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def stop_instance(project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str) -> None:
    """
    Stops a running Google Compute Engine instance.
    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
        zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
        instance_name: name of the instance your want to stop.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    operation = instance_client.stop(
        project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name
    )
    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance stopping")
    return

A TERMINATED VM still exists with its configuration settings and instance metadata, but it loses its in-memory data and virtual machine state. Any resources that are attached to the terminated VM remain attached until you manually detach those resources or delete the VM.

When a VM is in the TERMINATED state, you can start the VM or delete it. If you don't plan to start the VM, delete it.

Stop a VM through the OS

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.setMetadata on the VM if using instance-level public SSH keys
• compute.projects.setCommonInstanceMetadata on the project if using project-wide SSH keys

You can optionally stop a VM through the guest OS by using the sudo shutdown -h now or sudo poweroff command. Use these commands to stop a VM that uses local SSDs. Run one of these commands while you are logged into the VM:

sudo shutdown -h now

sudo poweroff

Start a stopped VM that doesn't have an encrypted disk

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.start on the VM

To start a stopped VM, use the instances().start method. This method boots up a stopped VM that is in the TERMINATED state.

The start method starts a VM in a TERMINATED state, whereas methods such as reset() and sudo reboot work only with VMs that are currently running. Almost all VMs, including preemptible VMs, can be started, if the VM is in a TERMINATED state.

Note: You can review the progression of VM statuses that describe the process of starting a new or terminated VM.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Select one or more VMs that you want to start.

3. Click Start/Resume.

gcloud

To start a VM, use the gcloud compute instances start command and specify one or more VMs that you want to start:

gcloud compute instances start VM_NAME

Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM you want to start.

API

To start a VM, construct a POST request using the instances.start method:

POST https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/start

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project your VM is in
• ZONE: the zone where your VM is located
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM you want to start

Go

compute/start_instance.go

View on GitHub

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/compute/v1"
)

// startInstance starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
func startInstance(w io.Writer, projectID, zone, instanceName string) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	req := &computepb.StartInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Start(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to start instance: %v", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance started\n")

	return nil
}

Java

compute/cloud-client/src/main/java/compute/StartInstance.java

View on GitHub

import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.StartInstanceRequest;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class StartInstance {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    /* project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
       zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
       instanceName: name of the instance your want to start. */
    String project = "your-project-id";
    String zone = "zone-name";
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    startInstance(project, zone, instanceName);
  }

  // Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
  public static void startInstance(String project, String zone, String instanceName)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    /* Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
       once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
       the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
       clean up any remaining background resources. */
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      // Create the request.
      StartInstanceRequest startInstanceRequest = StartInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(project)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstance(instanceName)
          .build();

      OperationFuture<Operation, Operation> operation = instancesClient.startAsync(
          startInstanceRequest);

      // Wait for the operation to complete.
      Operation response = operation.get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.getStatus() == Status.DONE) {
        System.out.println("Instance started successfully ! ");
      }
    }
  }
}

Node.js

samples/startInstance.js

View on GitHub

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b'
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME'

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function startInstance() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [response] = await instancesClient.start({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance started.');
}

startInstance();

PHP

compute/cloud-client/instances/src/start_instance.php

View on GitHub

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesClient;

/**
 * Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
 *
 * @param string $projectId Project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $zone Name of the zone your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $instanceName Name of the instance you want to stop.
  *
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails.
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ValidationException if local error occurs before remote call.
 */
function start_instance(
    string $projectId,
    string $zone,
    string $instanceName
) {
    // Start the Compute Engine instance using InstancesClient.
    $instancesClient = new InstancesClient();
    $operation = $instancesClient->start($instanceName, $projectId, $zone);

    // Wait for the operation to complete.
    $operation->pollUntilComplete();
    if ($operation->operationSucceeded()) {
        printf('Instance %s started successfully' . PHP_EOL, $instanceName);
    } else {
        $error = $operation->getError();
        printf('Failed to start instance: %s' . PHP_EOL, $error->getMessage());
    }
}

Python

samples/snippets/instances/start.py

View on GitHub

import sys
import time
from typing import Any

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    This method will wait for the extended (long-running) operation to
    complete. If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def start_instance(project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str) -> None:
    """
    Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
        zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
        instance_name: name of the instance your want to start.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    operation = instance_client.start(
        project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name
    )

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance start")
    return

Start a VM that has encrypted disks

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.startWithEncryptionKey on the VM

If the VM you want to start uses customer-supplied encryption keys, you must provide those keys when trying to start the VM.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Select the VM that you want to start.

3. Click Start/Resume. A window opens where you can specify encryption keys for the devices that are attached to this VM.

4. Specify encryption keys for each of the encrypted disks that are attached to this VM.

5. Click Start to start the VM.

gcloud

To start a VM that uses encryption keys, use the gcloud compute instances start command with the --csek-key-file flag. If you are using an RSA-wrapped key, use the gcloud beta command.

gcloud compute instances start VM_NAME \
    --csek-key-file ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM you want to start
• ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE: the relative path to the JSON file that contains the encryption key. This key is used to encrypt persistent disks that are attached to the VM. For more information, see the Encryption key file format.

API

To start a VM that has encryption keys, construct a POST request using the instances.startWithEncryptionKey method:

    POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/startWithEncryptionKey
    {
      "disks": [
        {
           "source": "DISK_URL",
           "diskEncryptionKey": {
             "ENCRYPTION_TYPE": "ENCRYPTION_KEY"
           }
        }
      ]
    }
 

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project your VM is in
• ZONE: the zone where your VM is located
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM you want to start
• DISK_URL: the resource URL corresponding to the full resource name of the attached disk that is encrypted with a customer-supplied encryption key
• ENCRYPTION_TYPE: the type of disk encryption that you are using: rawKey, kmsKeyName, or rsaEncryptedKey. When using rsaEncryptedKey, you must use the beta API instead of the v1 API.
• ENCRYPTION_KEY: the encryption key that you use to encrypt persistent disks that are attached to the VM. Keys of type rawKey or rsaEncryptedKey must be base64-encoded. Prepare a key of type rsaEncryptedKey by following the instructions in RSA key wrapping.

Go

compute/start_instance_with_enc_key.go

View on GitHub

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/compute/v1"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
)

// startInstanceWithEncKey starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with encrypted disks).
func startInstanceWithEncKey(w io.Writer, projectID, zone, instanceName, key string) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"
	// key := "your_encryption_key"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	instanceReq := &computepb.GetInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
	}

	instance, err := instancesClient.Get(ctx, instanceReq)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to get instance: %v", err)
	}

	req := &computepb.StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
		InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequestResource: &computepb.InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest{
			Disks: []*computepb.CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk{
				{
					Source: proto.String(instance.GetDisks()[0].GetSource()),
					DiskEncryptionKey: &computepb.CustomerEncryptionKey{
						RawKey: proto.String(key),
					},
				},
			},
		},
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.StartWithEncryptionKey(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to start instance with encryption key: %v", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance with encryption key started\n")

	return nil
}

Java

compute/cloud-client/src/main/java/compute/StartEncryptedInstance.java

View on GitHub

import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.CustomerEncryptionKey;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.GetInstanceRequest;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class StartEncryptedInstance {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    /* project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
       zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
       instanceName: name of the instance your want to start.
       key: bytes object representing a raw base64 encoded key to your machines boot disk.
            For more information about disk encryption see:
            https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/customer-supplied-encryption#specifications
     */
    String project = "your-project-id";
    String zone = "zone-name";
    String instanceName = "instance-name";
    String key = "raw-key";

    startEncryptedInstance(project, zone, instanceName, key);
  }

  // Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with encrypted disks).
  public static void startEncryptedInstance(String project, String zone, String instanceName,
      String key)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    /* Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
       once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
       the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
       clean up any remaining background resources. */
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      GetInstanceRequest getInstanceRequest = GetInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(project)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstance(instanceName).build();

      Instance instance = instancesClient.get(getInstanceRequest);

      // Prepare the information about disk encryption.
      CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk protectedDisk = CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk
          .newBuilder()
          /* Use raw_key to send over the key to unlock the disk
             To use a key stored in KMS, you need to provide:
             `kms_key_name` and `kms_key_service_account`
           */
          .setDiskEncryptionKey(CustomerEncryptionKey.newBuilder()
              .setRawKey(key).build())
          .setSource(instance.getDisks(0).getSource())
          .build();

      InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest startWithEncryptionKeyRequest =
          InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest.newBuilder()
              .addDisks(protectedDisk).build();

      StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest encryptionKeyInstanceRequest =
          StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
              .setProject(project)
              .setZone(zone)
              .setInstance(instanceName)
              .setInstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequestResource(startWithEncryptionKeyRequest)
              .build();

      OperationFuture<Operation, Operation> operation = instancesClient.startWithEncryptionKeyAsync(
          encryptionKeyInstanceRequest);
      Operation response = operation.get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.getStatus() == Status.DONE) {
        System.out.println("Encrypted instance started successfully ! ");
      }
    }
  }

}

Node.js

samples/startInstanceWithEncKey.js

View on GitHub

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b'
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME'
// const key = 'YOUR_KEY_STRING'

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function startInstanceWithEncryptionKey() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [instance] = await instancesClient.get({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
  });

  const [response] = await instancesClient.startWithEncryptionKey({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
    instancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequestResource: {
      disks: [
        {
          source: instance.disks[0].source,
          diskEncryptionKey: {
            rawKey: key,
          },
        },
      ],
    },
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance with encryption key started.');
}

startInstanceWithEncryptionKey();

PHP

compute/cloud-client/instances/src/start_instance_with_encryption_key.php

View on GitHub

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\CustomerEncryptionKey;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesClient;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest;

/**
 * Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with encrypted disks).
 *
 * @param string $projectId Project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $zone Name of the zone your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $instanceName Name of the instance you want to stop.
 * @param string $key Bytes object representing a raw base64 encoded key to your instance's boot disk.
 *                    For more information about disk encryption see:
 *                    https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/customer-supplied-encryption#specifications
 *
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails.
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ValidationException if local error occurs before remote call.
 */
function start_instance_with_encryption_key(
    string $projectId,
    string $zone,
    string $instanceName,
    string $key
) {
    // Initiate the InstancesClient.
    $instancesClient = new InstancesClient();

    // Get data about the instance.
    $instanceData = $instancesClient->get($instanceName, $projectId, $zone);

    // Use `setRawKey` to send over the key to unlock the disk
    // To use a key stored in KMS, you need to use `setKmsKeyName` and `setKmsKeyServiceAccount`
    $customerEncryptionKey = (new CustomerEncryptionKey())
        ->setRawKey($key);

    // Prepare the information about disk encryption.
    $diskData = (new CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk())
        ->setSource($instanceData->getDisks()[0]->getSource())
        ->setDiskEncryptionKey($customerEncryptionKey);

    // Set request with one disk.
    $instancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest = (new InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest())
        ->setDisks(array($diskData));

    // Start the instance with encrypted disk.
    $operation = $instancesClient->startWithEncryptionKey($instanceName, $instancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest, $projectId, $zone);

    // Wait for the operation to complete.
    $operation->pollUntilComplete();
    if ($operation->operationSucceeded()) {
        printf('Instance %s started successfully' . PHP_EOL, $instanceName);
    } else {
        $error = $operation->getError();
        printf('Starting instance failed: %s' . PHP_EOL, $error->getMessage());
    }
}

Python

samples/snippets/instances/start_encrypted.py

View on GitHub

import sys
import time
from typing import Any

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    This method will wait for the extended (long-running) operation to
    complete. If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def start_instance_with_encryption_key(
    project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str, key: bytes
):
    """
    Starts a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with encrypted disks).
    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
        zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
        instance_name: name of the instance your want to start.
        key: bytes object representing a raw base64 encoded key to your machines boot disk.
            For more information about disk encryption see:
            https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/disks/customer-supplied-encryption#specifications
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    instance_data = instance_client.get(
        project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name
    )

    # Prepare the information about disk encryption
    disk_data = compute_v1.CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk()
    disk_data.source = instance_data.disks[0].source
    disk_data.disk_encryption_key = compute_v1.CustomerEncryptionKey()
    # Use raw_key to send over the key to unlock the disk
    # To use a key stored in KMS, you need to provide `kms_key_name` and `kms_key_service_account`
    disk_data.disk_encryption_key.raw_key = key
    enc_data = compute_v1.InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest()
    enc_data.disks = [disk_data]

    operation = instance_client.start_with_encryption_key(
        project=project_id,
        zone=zone,
        instance=instance_name,
        instances_start_with_encryption_key_request_resource=enc_data,
    )

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance start (with encrypted disk)")
    return

Reset a VM

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.reset on the VM

Performing a reset on your VM is similar to doing a hard reset on your computer, where you might press a reset button or press and hold the power button. Resetting a VM forcibly wipes the memory contents of the machine and resets the VM to its initial state. The VM does not perform a clean shutdown of the guest OS. Throughout this process, the VM remains in the RUNNING state.

Note: When you reset a VM, none of the VM properties change. The VM retains its ephemeral IPs, static external IPs, persistent disks, local SSDs (if any), and machine type. However, any data stored in memory is reset unless you back up the data.

To reset a running VM, use the Google Cloud console, the gcloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API.

Console

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Select one or more VMs that you want to reset.

3. Click Reset.

gcloud

To reset a running VM, use the gcloud compute instances reset command and specify one or more VMs that you want to reset:

gcloud compute instances reset VM_NAME

Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM you want to reset.

API

To reset a VM, construct a POST request using the instances.reset method:

 POST https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/reset

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the project your VM is in
• ZONE: the zone where your VM is located
• VM_NAME: the name of the VM you want to reset

Go

compute/reset_instance.go

View on GitHub

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/compute/v1"
)

// resetInstance resets a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
func resetInstance(w io.Writer, projectID, zone, instanceName string) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %v", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	req := &computepb.ResetInstanceRequest{
		Project:  projectID,
		Zone:     zone,
		Instance: instanceName,
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Reset(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to reset instance: %v", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %v", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance reset\n")

	return nil
}

Java

compute/cloud-client/src/main/java/compute/ResetInstance.java

View on GitHub

import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation.Status;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.ResetInstanceRequest;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class ResetInstance {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    /* project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
       zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
       instanceName: name of the instance your want to reset.
     */
    String project = "your-project-id";
    String zone = "zone-name";
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    resetInstance(project, zone, instanceName);
  }

  // Resets a running Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
  public static void resetInstance(String project, String zone, String instanceName)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    /* Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
       once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
       the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
       clean up any remaining background resources. */
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      ResetInstanceRequest resetInstanceRequest = ResetInstanceRequest.newBuilder()
          .setProject(project)
          .setZone(zone)
          .setInstance(instanceName)
          .build();

      OperationFuture<Operation, Operation> operation = instancesClient.resetAsync(
          resetInstanceRequest);
      Operation response = operation.get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.getStatus() == Status.DONE) {
        System.out.println("Instance reset successfully ! ");
      }
    }
  }

}

Node.js

samples/resetInstance.js

View on GitHub

/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const zone = 'europe-central2-b'
// const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME'

const compute = require('@google-cloud/compute');

async function resetInstance() {
  const instancesClient = new compute.InstancesClient();

  const [response] = await instancesClient.reset({
    project: projectId,
    zone,
    instance: instanceName,
  });
  let operation = response.latestResponse;
  const operationsClient = new compute.ZoneOperationsClient();

  // Wait for the operation to complete.
  while (operation.status !== 'DONE') {
    [operation] = await operationsClient.wait({
      operation: operation.name,
      project: projectId,
      zone: operation.zone.split('/').pop(),
    });
  }

  console.log('Instance reset.');
}

resetInstance();

PHP

compute/cloud-client/instances/src/reset_instance.php

View on GitHub

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesClient;

/**
 * Reset a running Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
 *
 * @param string $projectId Project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $zone Name of the zone your instance belongs to.
 * @param string $instanceName Name of the instance you want to reset.
  *
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails.
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ValidationException if local error occurs before remote call.
 */
function reset_instance(
    string $projectId,
    string $zone,
    string $instanceName
) {
    // Stop the Compute Engine instance using InstancesClient.
    $instancesClient = new InstancesClient();
    $operation = $instancesClient->reset($instanceName, $projectId, $zone);

    // Wait for the operation to complete.
    $operation->pollUntilComplete();
    if ($operation->operationSucceeded()) {
        printf('Instance %s reset successfully' . PHP_EOL, $instanceName);
    } else {
        $error = $operation->getError();
        printf('Failed to reset instance: %s' . PHP_EOL, $error->getMessage());
    }
}

Python

samples/snippets/instances/reset.py

View on GitHub

import sys
import time
from typing import Any

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    This method will wait for the extended (long-running) operation to
    complete. If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def reset_instance(project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str) -> None:
    """
    Resets a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks).
    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to.
        zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to.
        instance_name: name of the instance your want to reset.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    operation = instance_client.reset(
        project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name
    )

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance reset")

    return

When you run the reset command, the subsequent zone operation returns DONE after the VM has shut down.

Other start methods

Permissions required for this task

To perform this task, you must have the following permissions:

• compute.instances.setMetadata on the VM if you intend to connect to the VM

You can also choose to reset your VM using the following methods:

• sudo reboot (Linux only): Call this method from within the VM. This method wipes the memory and re-initializes the VM with the original metadata, image, and persistent disks. This command does not pick up any updated versions of the image, and the VM retains the same ephemeral IP address. This is similar to restarting your computer.
• Rebooting a Windows VM: You can reboot a Windows VM, similar to sudo reboot in the preceding example, by using the Start menu. In the Start menu, click the arrow next to Log off, and click Restart.

What's next

• Learn how to schedule VMs to start and stop automatically.
• Learn how to troubleshoot VM shutdowns and reboots.
• Use the interactive serial console to troubleshoot a VM.
• Learn how to change the machine type.