View the details of a VM

Linux Windows

This document explains how to view the details of an existing virtual machine (VM) instance.

Viewing the details of a VM is useful to see its configuration and status, such as attached disks, creation timestamp, machine type, and the ID of the VM—which you can use to reference the VM using an immutable value.

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.

View details of a VM

You can view the details of a VM using the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, and Compute Engine API.

Console

To view the details of a VM, do the following:

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

Go to VM instances
In the Name column, click on the VM name to view its details.

gcloud

To view the details of a VM, use the gcloud compute instances describe command.

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

Replace the following:

VM_NAME: the VM name.
PROJECT_ID: the project ID of the project where the VM is located.
ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

The output is similar to the following:

canIpForward: false
confidentialInstanceConfig:
  enableConfidentialCompute: false
cpuPlatform: Intel Broadwell
creationTimestamp: '2023-08-18T10:00:21.801-07:00'
deletionProtection: false
description: ''
disks:
- architecture: X86_64
  autoDelete: true
  boot: true
  deviceName: example-vm
  diskSizeGb: '10'
  guestOsFeatures:
  - type: UEFI_COMPATIBLE
  - type: VIRTIO_SCSI_MULTIQUEUE
  - type: GVNIC
  - type: SEV_CAPABLE
  index: 0
  interface: SCSI
  kind: compute#attachedDisk
  licenses:
  - https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-11-bullseye
  mode: READ_WRITE
  source: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/disks/example-vm
  type: PERSISTENT
displayDevice:
  enableDisplay: false
fingerprint: CQp-QBEACqw=
id: '6404261768674286922'
keyRevocationActionType: NONE
kind: compute#instance
labelFingerprint: 42WmSpB8rSM=
lastStartTimestamp: '2023-08-18T10:00:28.182-07:00'
machineType: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/machineTypes/e2-medium
metadata:
  fingerprint: lQ-dD2sMrMY=
  items:
  - key: enable-oslogin
    value: 'true'
  kind: compute#metadata
name: example-vm
networkInterfaces:
- accessConfigs:
  - kind: compute#accessConfig
    name: External NAT
    natIP: 34.27.53.198
    networkTier: PREMIUM
    type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT
  fingerprint: QR3z6TgVFjg=
  kind: compute#networkInterface
  name: nic0
  network: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/global/networks/default
  networkIP: 10.128.0.28
  stackType: IPV4_ONLY
  subnetwork: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/regions/us-central1/subnetworks/default
reservationAffinity:
  consumeReservationType: ANY_RESERVATION
scheduling:
  automaticRestart: true
  onHostMaintenance: MIGRATE
  preemptible: false
  provisioningModel: STANDARD
selfLink: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm
serviceAccounts:
- email: 790569220780-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com
  scopes:
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/servicecontrol
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/service.management.readonly
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/trace.append
shieldedInstanceConfig:
  enableIntegrityMonitoring: true
  enableSecureBoot: false
  enableVtpm: true
shieldedInstanceIntegrityPolicy:
  updateAutoLearnPolicy: true
startRestricted: false
status: RUNNING
tags:
  fingerprint: 42WmSpB8rSM=
zone: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a

API

To view the details of a VM, make a GET request to instances.get method.

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

Replace the following:

PROJECT_ID: the project ID of the project where the VM is located.
ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.
VM_NAME: the VM name.

The output is similar to the following:

{
  "canIpForward": false,
  "confidentialInstanceConfig": {
    "enableConfidentialCompute": false
  },
  "cpuPlatform": "Intel Broadwell",
  "creationTimestamp": "2023-08-18T10:00:21.801-07:00",
  "deletionProtection": false,
  "description": "",
  "disks": [
    {
      "architecture": "X86_64",
      "autoDelete": true,
      "boot": true,
      "deviceName": "example-vm",
      "diskSizeGb": "10",
      "guestOsFeatures": [
        {
          "type": "UEFI_COMPATIBLE"
        },
        {
          "type": "VIRTIO_SCSI_MULTIQUEUE"
        },
        {
          "type": "GVNIC"
        },
        {
          "type": "SEV_CAPABLE"
        }
      ],
      "index": 0,
      "interface": "SCSI",
      "kind": "compute#attachedDisk",
      "licenses": [
        "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-11-bullseye"
      ],
      "mode": "READ_WRITE",
      "source": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/disks/example-vm",
      "type": "PERSISTENT"
    }
  ],
  "displayDevice": {
    "enableDisplay": false
  },
  "fingerprint": "CQp-QBEACqw=",
  "id": "6404261768674286922",
  "keyRevocationActionType": "NONE",
  "kind": "compute#instance",
  "labelFingerprint": "42WmSpB8rSM=",
  "lastStartTimestamp": "2023-08-18T10:00:28.182-07:00",
  "machineType": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/machineTypes/e2-medium",
  "metadata": {
    "fingerprint": "lQ-dD2sMrMY=",
    "items": [
      {
        "key": "enable-oslogin",
        "value": "true"
      }
    ],
    "kind": "compute#metadata"
  },
  "name": "example-vm",
  "networkInterfaces": [
    {
      "accessConfigs": [
        {
        "kind": "compute#accessConfig",
        "name": "External NAT",
        "natIP": "34.27.53.198",
        "networkTier": "PREMIUM",
        "type": "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT"
        }
      ],
      "fingerprint": "QR3z6TgVFjg=",
      "kind": "compute#networkInterface",
      "name": "nic0",
      "network": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/global/networks/default",
      "networkIP": "10.128.0.28",
      "stackType": "IPV4_ONLY",
      "subnetwork": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/regions/us-central1/subnetworks/default"
    }
  ],
  "reservationAffinity": {
    "consumeReservationType": "ANY_RESERVATION"
  },
  "scheduling": {
    "automaticRestart": true,
    "onHostMaintenance": "MIGRATE",
    "preemptible": false,
    "provisioningModel": "STANDARD"
  },
  "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm",
  "serviceAccounts": [
    {
    "email": "790569220780-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com",
    "scopes": [
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/servicecontrol",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/service.management.readonly",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/trace.append"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "shieldedInstanceConfig": {
    "enableIntegrityMonitoring": true,
    "enableSecureBoot": false,
    "enableVtpm": true
  },
  "shieldedInstanceIntegrityPolicy": {
    "updateAutoLearnPolicy": true
  },
  "startRestricted": false,
  "status": "RUNNING",
  "tags": {
    "fingerprint": "42WmSpB8rSM="
  },
  "zone": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a"
}

What's next

Learn how to rename a VM.
Learn how to stop or start a VM.
Learn how to suspend or resume a VM.
Learn more about the VM life cycle.