About startup scripts

Linux Windows

A startup script is a file that contains commands that run when a virtual machine (VM) instance boots. Compute Engine provides support for running startup scripts on Linux VMs and Windows VMs.

The following table contains links to documentation that describes how to use startup scripts.

Startup script task	Best used for	Link to procedure
Pass a startup script directly	Scripts up to 256 KB	Linux VMs Windows VMs
Pass a startup script from a local file	Scripts up to 256 KB	Linux VMs Windows VMs
Pass a startup script from Cloud Storage	Scripts greater than 256 KB	Linux VMs Windows VMs
Access metadata from a startup script	Passing different values to each VM that uses the same script	Linux VMs Windows VMs
Rerun a startup script	Running a script without restarting the VM	Linux VMs Windows VMs
View the output from a startup script	Monitoring the progress of a script	Linux VMs Windows VMs

What's next

• Learn how to add a shutdown script.