View the source image of a VM

Linux Windows

---

You create a virtual machine (VM) instance from either an OS image or a disk image. This document shows you how to determine the source OS image or source disk image of a VM.

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.

  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.

View the source OS image or source disk image of a VM

To view the source OS image or source disk image of a VM, use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or Compute Engine API.

Permissions required for this task

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

• compute.instances.get on the instance

Console

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

   Go to VM instances

2. Click the Name of the VM.

3. The name of the source OS image or source disk image is in Storage > Boot disk > Image.

gcloud

1. View the disks attached to a VM by using the following gcloud compute instances describe command:

   gcloud compute instances describe VM_NAME
   

   Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM.

2. View the source OS image or source disk image of the disk by using the following gcloud compute disks describe command:

   gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME \
      --zone=ZONE \
      --format="get(SOURCE)"
   

   Replace the following:

   • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk to view the source of.

   • ZONE: the zone that the disk is located in.

   • SOURCE: a value that specifies whether to return the source OS image or the source disk image. Set to sourceDisk or to sourceImage. No value is returned when specifying sourceDisk or sourceImage unless there is a corresponding source OS image or a source disk image. If no value is returned, specify the other value and run the command again.

REST

1. View the disks attached to a VM by using the following 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
   • ZONE: the zone containing the VM
   • VM_NAME: the name of the VM

2. View the source OS image or source disk image of the disk by using the disks.get method.

   For a VM that has a source OS image, this method returns the source image that was used to create the disk in the sourceImage field. For a VM that has a source disk image, this method instead returns the source image in the sourceDisk field.

   GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME
   

   Replace the following:

   • PROJECT_ID: the project ID
   • ZONE: the zone containing the disk
   • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk

What's next

• Learn more about OS images on Compute Engine.