Stop or restart a VM

Linux Windows

---

This document explains how to manually stop, restart, reset, or reboot a virtual machine (VM) instance. These operations are useful in the following scenarios:

• Stop a VM if you're no longer using it or if you want to modify one or more of its properties; for example, if you want to rename the VM, change its machine type, add or remove attached disks, or change the minimum CPU platform. After stopping the VM, restart it to resume your workload or delete the VM if you no longer need it.

• Reset a VM if, for example, the VM is unresponsive or the guest operating system (OS) has crashed. After resetting the VM, you can resume your workload.

• Reboot a VM from within the guest OS if, for example, you want to wipe the memory of the VM and re-initialize it to its original boot state. After rebooting a VM from within its guest OS, you can resume your workload.

Before you begin

• If you haven't already, then 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 by selecting one of the following options:
  

  Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

  Console

  When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

  gcloud

  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.

  Go

  To use the Go samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Java

  To use the Java samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Node.js

  To use the Node.js samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  PHP

  To use the PHP samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Python

  To use the Python samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

  2. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  3. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  REST

  To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

  Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:

  gcloud init

  For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to stop and restart a VM, 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 to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to stop and restart a VM. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to stop and restart a VM:

• To stop a VM: compute.instances.stop on the VM
• To stop a VM from within the guest OS: compute.instances.setMetadata on the VM if it uses instance-level public SSH keys.
• To restart a VM: compute.instances.start on the VM
• To restart a VM that uses encryption keys: compute.instances.startWithEncryptionKey on the VM
• To reset a VM: compute.instances.reset on the VM
• To reboot a VM from within the guest OS: compute.instances.setMetadata on the VM

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

Stop a VM

When you stop a running VM, the following happens:

1. Compute Engine sends the ACPI shutdown signal to the VM, and waits a short time for the guest OS to perform a clean shutdown. Then, Compute Engine sets the state of the VM to STOPPING first, and then transitions it to TERMINATED within a minute.

2. The VM resets to its power-on state and retains its internal IPs, MAC addresses, configuration settings, and metadata. However, the VM loses its in-memory data and VM state. If you need to retain the in-memory data and VM state, suspend the VM instead.

Additionally, if you attached any resources to the VM, those resources remain attached until you manually detach them or you delete the VM. If the VM has any Local SSD disks attached, stopping the VM discards all data on the Local SSD disks by default. To keep the data on the Local SSD disks, you must stop the VM by using the gcloud CLI with the --discard-local-ssd=false flag. For more information, see Stop a VM with Local SSD.

To stop a VM, select one of the methods described in this document:

• Stop a VM through Google Cloud.

• Stop a VM from within the guest OS.

After you stop a VM, you can either restart it or delete it. If you don't plan to restart the VM, deleting it is recommended.

Stop a VM through Google Cloud

To stop more than one VM at a time, use the Google Cloud console.

Console

To stop one or more VMs, do the following:

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Select the VMs to stop.

3. Click Stop, and then click Stop to confirm.

gcloud

To stop a VM, use the gcloud compute instances stop command.

gcloud compute instances stop VM_NAME \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Preview

This product or feature is subject to the "Pre-GA Offerings Terms" in the General Service Terms section of the Service Specific Terms. Pre-GA products and features are available "as is" and might have limited support. For more information, see the launch stage descriptions.

If you attached a Local SSD disk to the VM and you want to keep the Local SSD data after stopping the VM, use the gcloud beta compute instances stop command with the --discard-local-ssd=false flag.

gcloud beta compute instances stop VM_NAME \
    --discard-local-ssd=false \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --zone=ZONE

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
)

// 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: %w", 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: %w", err)
	}

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

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

	return nil
}

Java

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

/**
 * 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

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\StopInstanceRequest;

/**
 * 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();
    $request = (new StopInstanceRequest())
        ->setInstance($instanceName)
        ->setProject($projectId)
        ->setZone($zone);
    $operation = $instancesClient->stop($request);

    // 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

from __future__ import annotations

import sys
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:
    """
    Waits 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")

REST

To stop a VM, make a POST request to the instances.stop method.

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

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Stop a VM from within the guest OS

To stop a VM from within the guest OS when you're connected to the VM, select one of the following tabs.

Linux

To stop a Linux VM, select one of the following methods:

• For a clean shutdown that allows the VM to run shutdown scripts before sending the ACPI shutdown signal to the VM, run the following command:

  sudo shutdown -h now
  

• Otherwise, to force a shutdown, run the following command:

  sudo poweroff
  

Windows

To stop a Windows VM, select one of the following methods:

• For a clean shutdown that allows the VM to run shutdown scripts before sending the ACPI shutdown signal to the VM, run the following command:

  shutdown /s
  

• Otherwise, to force a shutdown, run the following command:

  shutdown /f
  

Restart a VM

You can restart a stopped VM only if the VM is in the TERMINATED state. To restart a VM, select one of the following methods described in this document:

• Restart a VM without encrypted disks (default).

• Restart a VM that uses encrypted disks.

Restart a VM without encrypted disks

Restart a stopped VM that doesn't use any encrypted disks (default). To restart more than one VM at a time, use the Google Cloud console.

Console

To restart one or more VMs, do the following:

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Select one or more VMs.

3. Click Start / Resume.

gcloud

To restart a VM, use the gcloud compute instances start command.

gcloud compute instances start VM_NAME \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
)

// 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: %w", 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: %w", err)
	}

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

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

	return nil
}

Java

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

/**
 * 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

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\StartInstanceRequest;

/**
 * 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();
    $request = (new StartInstanceRequest())
        ->setInstance($instanceName)
        ->setProject($projectId)
        ->setZone($zone);
    $operation = $instancesClient->start($request);

    // 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

from __future__ import annotations

import sys
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:
    """
    Waits 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")

REST

To restart a VM, make a POST request to the instances.start method.

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

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM to restart.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Restart a VM that uses encrypted disks

You can restart a stopped VM that uses customer-supplied encryption keys to encrypt the persistent disks attached to the VM.

Console

To restart a VM that use encrypted disks, do the following:

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Select the VM to restart.

3. Click Start / Resume.

4. Specify encryption keys for each of the encrypted disks that are attached to this VM, and then click Start.

gcloud

To restart a VM that uses encrypted disks, use the gcloud compute instances start command with the --csek-key-file flag. If you're using an RSA-wrapped key, use the gcloud beta compute instances start command instead.

gcloud compute instances start VM_NAME \
    --csek-key-file=ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• ENCRYPTION_KEY_FILE: the relative path to the JSON file that contains the customer-supplied encryption key.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
	"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: %w", 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: %w", 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: %w", err)
	}

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

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

	return nil
}

Java

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

/**
 * 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

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\CustomerEncryptionKey;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\CustomerEncryptionKeyProtectedDisk;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\GetInstanceRequest;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\InstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest;

/**
 * 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.
    $request = (new GetInstanceRequest())
        ->setInstance($instanceName)
        ->setProject($projectId)
        ->setZone($zone);
    $instanceData = $instancesClient->get($request);

    // 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);

    /** @var \Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\AttachedDisk */
    $disk = $instanceData->getDisks()[0];

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

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

    // Start the instance with encrypted disk.
    $request2 = (new StartWithEncryptionKeyInstanceRequest())
        ->setInstance($instanceName)
        ->setInstancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequestResource($instancesStartWithEncryptionKeyRequest)
        ->setProject($projectId)
        ->setZone($zone);
    $operation = $instancesClient->startWithEncryptionKey($request2);

    // 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

from __future__ import annotations

import sys
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:
    """
    Waits 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
) -> None:
    """
    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)")

REST

To restart a VM that uses encrypted disks, make a POST request to 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 ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• 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, which can be one of the following: rawKey, kmsKeyName, or rsaEncryptedKey. If you use the rsaEncryptedKey type, you must make a POST request to the beta API instead of the v1 API.

• ENCRYPTION_KEY: the encryption key used to encrypt the persistent disks attached to the VM. rawKey or rsaEncryptedKey keys must be base64-encoded. Additionally, to prepare a rsaEncryptedKey key, see RSA key wrapping.

Reset a VM

Resetting a running VM is similar to doing a hard reset on your computer, such as when you press a reset button or press and hold the power button. When you reset a VM, you don't give time to the VM to perform a clean shutdown of the guest OS. Consequently, this might corrupt the disk's filesystems. Google Cloud recommends resetting a VM only if the guest OS has crashed and you have no other options. If you want to re-initialize a VM and perform a clean shut down, see Reboot a VM in this document.

When you reset a VM, the following happens:

• The VM re-initializes to its initial boot state with the original metadata, image, and persistent disks.

• The VM forcibly wipes the memory contents of the machine unless you back up the data.

• The VM state remains RUNNING through the process.

Resetting a VM doesn't change any of its VM properties. The VM retains its ephemeral IPs, static external IPs, persistent disks, local SSD disks (if any), and machine type.

Console

To reset one or more running VMs, do the following:

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Select the VMs to reset.

3. Click Reset, and then click Reset again.

gcloud

To reset a running VM, use the gcloud compute instances reset command.

gcloud compute instances reset VM_NAME \
    --project=PROJECT_ID \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
)

// resetInstance resets a running 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: %w", 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: %w", err)
	}

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

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

	return nil
}

Java

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

/**
 * 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

use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient;
use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\ResetInstanceRequest;

/**
 * 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();
    $request = (new ResetInstanceRequest())
        ->setInstance($instanceName)
        ->setProject($projectId)
        ->setZone($zone);
    $operation = $instancesClient->reset($request);

    // 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

from __future__ import annotations

import sys
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:
    """
    Waits 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")

REST

To reset a running VM, make a POST request to the instances.reset method.

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

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.

• ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

Reboot a VM

When you reboot a VM from within the guest OS, the following happens:

• The VM re-initializes to its initial boot state with the original metadata, image, and persistent disks.

• The VM wipes the memory contents of the machine unless you back up the data.

• The VM state remains RUNNING through the process.

Compared to resetting a VM, rebooting a VM from within the guest OS waits for the VM to finish off all the running tasks before sending the ACPI shutdown signal to the VM. This allows the VM to perform a clean shutdown.

Rebooting a VM doesn't change any of its VM properties. The VM retains its ephemeral IPs, static external IPs, persistent disks, local SSD disks (if any), and machine type.

Linux

To reset a Linux VM, reboot the guest OS by running the following command:

sudo reboot

Windows

To reset a Windows VM, reboot the guest OS by running the following command:

shutdown /r /t 0

Optionally, to monitor the process of shutting down and restarting the VM, enable the Windows Boot Manager menu.

Billing

After a VM is stopped and Compute Engine sets it state to TERMINATED, you no longer incur charges for CPU usage. However, you continue incurring charges for any resources attached to the VM, such as persistent disks and external IP addresses.

To stop incurring charges for the resources attached to a VM, do one of the following:

• Detach those resources from the stopped VM.

• Delete the VM. This action deletes any resources attached to the VM as well.

What's next

• Learn how to schedule VMs to start and stop automatically.

• Learn how to limit the runtime of a VM.

• Learn how to troubleshoot a VM after it shuts down unexpectedly by doing one of the following:

  • Troubleshoot VM shutdowns and reboots.

  • Troubleshoot the VM using the interactive serial console.

• Learn how to change the machine type in a VM.