Install gsutil

Important: gsutil is not the recommended CLI for Cloud Storage. Use gcloud storage commands in the Google Cloud CLI instead.

This page describes the installation and setup of gsutil, a tool that enables you to access Cloud Storage from the command-line using HTTPS.

Simply installing gsutil gives you immediate read and/or write access to public data. Authenticating to the Cloud Storage service gives you read and/or write access to protected data that has been shared with you. Enabling billing gives you the ability to create and manage your own buckets.

System requirements

• The gsutil tool runs on Linux/Unix, Mac OS, and Windows (XP or later).

• gsutil versions 5.0 and up require Python 3.5-3.11, which you can obtain by using your Python version manager or by installing an appropriate version.

The following instructions show how to manage Python versions:

Linux

Prerequisites: Install a Python version manager (pyenv) and install a suitable Python version (3.11 recommended).

1. Set the Global Python Version:
   • To set Python 3.11.9 as the global version:

     pyenv global 3.11.9

   • Or set the Python version locally for a specific project folder:

     pyenv local 3.11.9

2. Confirm that the correct Python version is in use:

   python --version

   You should see:

   Python 3.11.9

macOS

Method 1: Using Homebrew (brew)

Prerequisites: Install Homebrew and install a suitable Python version (3.11 recommended) through homebrew.

1. Set a specific Python version as the default:
   • Add the version you want to your $PATH. For example, to use Python 3.11:

     export PATH="/usr/local/opt/python@3.11/bin:$PATH"

   • To make this change permanent, add the path to your shell configuration file (~/.bash_profile, ~/.zshrc, or ~/.bashrc).
2. Confirm that the correct Python version is in use:

   python --version

   You should see:

   Python 3.11.9

Method 2: Using pyenv

Prerequisites: Install Python version manager (pyenv) and install a suitable python version (3.11 recommended) through pyenv.

1. Set the global Python version:
   • To set the Python version globally (for all terminals):

     pyenv global 3.11.9

   • Or set the Python version locally for a specific project folder:

     pyenv local 3.11.9

2. Confirm that the correct Python version is in use:

   python --version

   You should see:

   Python 3.11.9

Windows

Prerequisites: Install Python version manager (pyenv-win) and install a suitable Python version (3.11 recommended) through pyenv.

1. Set the Global Python Version:
   • To set Python 3.11.9 as the global version:

     pyenv global 3.11.9

   • Or set the Python version locally for a specific project folder:

     pyenv local 3.11.9

2. Confirm that the correct Python version is in use:

   python --version

   You should see:

   Python 3.11.9

• If you plan to use composite objects, you need to install compiled crcmod. On Windows, this is only available for 32-bit Python. For more information on crcmod, install gsutil and see the help topic by using the command gsutil help crc32c.

Warning: On some Linux distributions, another tool named gsutil, by GrandStream BudgeTone, is pre-installed. If you run this command instead of the Cloud Storage gsutil, it will likely print an error message similar to "Choose one of -b, -d, -e, or -r to do something". If this happens, you can either move the Cloud Storage version of gsutil to the front of your PATH environment variable, or you can specify the full path when running Cloud Storage gsutil (for example, /home/users/joan/gsutil/gsutil ls).

Installing gsutil

Note: If you have previously installed the Google Cloud CLI, then gsutil is already included. Additionally, the Google Cloud CLI, including gsutil, is installed by default on a number of Google Compute Engine images; see OS details for a full list.

The officially supported installation and update method for gsutil is as part of the Google Cloud CLI.

Installing gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI

Follow the instructions for your operating system to install gsutil as a part of the Google Cloud CLI:

Linux

1. Confirm that you have a supported version of Python. The Google Cloud CLI requires Python 3.8 to 3.13. Note that the x86_64 Linux package includes a bundled Python interpreter that will be preferred by default. For information on how to choose and configure your Python interpreter, see gcloud topic startup.
2. Download one of the following:
   Note: To determine your Linux Platform, run uname -a at the command line.

   Platform	Package name	Size	SHA256 Checksum
   Linux 64-bit (x86_64)	google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz	131.6 MB	beb7c8ef61c46ede9295bf68bfb331fbd158575cc3343db585d37b891c890336
   Linux 64-bit (Arm)	google-cloud-cli-linux-arm.tar.gz	53.9 MB	44eb95fd169f92c197f88df527c3aa27d5db9aa977c2fa2d28fa1cf506b00c9f
   Linux 32-bit (x86)	google-cloud-cli-linux-x86.tar.gz	53.9 MB	10303f55226fac633761ae52e1dbcbcaf7c59fe11232f8196e6e361fc38e2e77

   To download the Linux archive file, run the following command:

   curl -O https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/downloads/google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

   Refer to the table above and replace google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz with the *.tar.gz package name that applies to your configuration.

3. To extract the contents of the file to your file system (preferably to your home directory), run the following command:

   tar -xf google-cloud-cli-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

   Optional: To replace an existing installation, remove the existing google-cloud-sdk directory and then extract the archive to the same location.
4. Add the gcloud CLI to your path. Run the installation script from the root of the folder you extracted to using the following command:

   ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh

   This can also be done non-interactively (for example, using a script) and by providing preferences as flags. To view the available flags, run:

   ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help

   Optional:
   • To send anonymous usage statistics to help improve the gcloud CLI, answer Y when prompted.
   • To add the gcloud CLI to your PATH and enable command completion, answer Y when prompted.
5. Open a new terminal so that the changes take effect.
6. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run gcloud init:

./google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud init

7. Optional: Install additional components using the component manager.

Debian/Ubuntu

Note: Depending on your setup, you can choose other installation methods:

• If you want gcloud to automatically update to the latest version and you're running a modern Ubuntu release that uses the Snap Package Manager, you can install the Google Cloud CLI as a snap package.
• If you're using an instance on Compute Engine, the gcloud CLI is installed by default on a number of OS images. See OS details for a full list.

Package contents

The gcloud CLI is available in package format for installation on Debian and Ubuntu systems. This package contains the gcloud, gcloud alpha, gcloud beta, gsutil, and bq commands only. It doesn't include kubectl or the App Engine extensions required to deploy an application using gcloud commands. If you want these components, you must install them separately.

Before you begin

Before you install the gcloud CLI, make sure that your operating system meets the following requirements:

• It is an Ubuntu release that hasn't reached end-of-life or a Debian stable release that hasn't reached end-of-life
• It has recently updated its packages:

  sudo apt-get update

• It has apt-transport-https and curl installed:

  sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates gnupg curl

Installation

1. Import the Google Cloud public key.

   • For newer distributions (Debian 9+ or Ubuntu 18.04+) run the following command:

     curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg

   • For older distributions, run the following command:

     curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg add -

   • If your distribution's apt-key command doesn't support the --keyring argument, run the following command:

     curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo apt-key add -

   • If you can't get latest updates due to an expired key, obtain the latest apt-get.gpg key file.

2. Add the gcloud CLI distribution URI as a package source.
   • For newer distributions (Debian 9+ or Ubuntu 18.04+), run the following command:

     echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list

   • For older distributions that don't support the signed-by option, run the following command:

     echo "deb https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list

   Note: Make sure you don't have duplicate entries for the cloud-sdk repo in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list.
3. Update and install the gcloud CLI:

   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli

   For additional apt-get options, such as disabling prompts or dry runs, refer to the apt-get man pages.

   Docker Tip: If installing the gcloud CLI inside a Docker image, use a single RUN step instead:

   RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list && curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg && apt-get update -y && apt-get install google-cloud-cli -y
       

   For older base images that do not support the gpg --dearmor command:

   RUN echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt cloud-sdk main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-cloud-sdk.list && curl https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | apt-key --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/cloud.google.gpg  add - && apt-get update -y && apt-get install google-cloud-cli -y
         

4. (Optional) Install any of the following additional components:
   • google-cloud-cli
   • google-cloud-cli-anthos-auth
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-go
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-grpc
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python-extras
   • google-cloud-cli-bigtable-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-cbt
   • google-cloud-cli-cloud-build-local
   • google-cloud-cli-cloud-run-proxy
   • google-cloud-cli-config-connector
   • google-cloud-cli-datastore-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-firestore-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
   • google-cloud-cli-kpt
   • google-cloud-cli-kubectl-oidc
   • google-cloud-cli-local-extract
   • google-cloud-cli-minikube
   • google-cloud-cli-nomos
   • google-cloud-cli-pubsub-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-skaffold
   • google-cloud-cli-spanner-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-terraform-validator
   • google-cloud-cli-tests
   • kubectl

   For example, the google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java component can be installed as follows:

   sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java

5. Run gcloud init to get started:

   gcloud init

Downgrading gcloud CLI versions

To revert to a specific version of the gcloud CLI, where VERSION is of the form 123.0.0, run the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-cloud-cli=123.0.0-0

The ten most recent releases are always available in the repo.

NOTE: For releases prior to 371.0.0, the package name is google-cloud-sdk

Red Hat/Fedora/CentOS

Note: If you're using an instance on Compute Engine, the Google Cloud CLI is installed by default on a number of OS images. See OS details for a full list.

Package contents

The gcloud CLI is available in package format for installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, and 9; Fedora 33 and 34; and CentOS 7 and 8 systems. This package contains the gcloud, gcloud alpha, gcloud beta, gsutil, and bq commands only. It doesn't include kubectl or the App Engine extensions required to deploy an application using gcloud commands, which can be installed separately as described later in this section.

Installation

1. Update DNF with gcloud CLI repository information. The following sample command is for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9-compatible installation, but make sure that you update the settings as needed for your configuration:

   sudo tee -a /etc/yum.repos.d/google-cloud-sdk.repo << EOM
   [google-cloud-cli]
   name=Google Cloud CLI
   baseurl=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/repos/cloud-sdk-el9-x86_64
   enabled=1
   gpgcheck=1
   repo_gpgcheck=0
   gpgkey=https://packages.cloud.google.com/yum/doc/rpm-package-key.gpg
   EOM
   

2. If you're installing on Fedora 34 or 35, install libxcrypt-compat.x86_64.

   sudo dnf install libxcrypt-compat.x86_64

3. Install the gcloud CLI:

   sudo dnf install google-cloud-cli

Note: If you haven't moved to dnf on your system, you can run these commands using yum instead.

You can also use dnf/yum options, such as disabling prompts or dry runs, with the provided commands.

4. (Optional) Install any of the following additional components:
   • google-cloud-cli
   • google-cloud-cli-anthos-auth
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-go
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-grpc
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python
   • google-cloud-cli-app-engine-python-extras
   • google-cloud-cli-bigtable-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-cbt
   • google-cloud-cli-cloud-build-local
   • google-cloud-cli-cloud-run-proxy
   • google-cloud-cli-config-connector
   • google-cloud-cli-datastore-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-firestore-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-gke-gcloud-auth-plugin
   • google-cloud-cli-kpt
   • google-cloud-cli-kubectl-oidc
   • google-cloud-cli-local-extract
   • google-cloud-cli-minikube
   • google-cloud-cli-nomos
   • google-cloud-cli-pubsub-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-skaffold
   • google-cloud-cli-spanner-emulator
   • google-cloud-cli-terraform-validator
   • google-cloud-cli-tests
   • kubectl

   For example, the google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java component can be installed as follows:

   sudo dnf install google-cloud-cli-app-engine-java

5. Run gcloud init to get started:

   gcloud init

Downgrading gcloud CLI versions

If you'd like to revert to a specific version of the gcloud CLI, where VERSION is of the form 123.0.0, run: sudo dnf downgrade google-cloud-cli-VERSION The ten most recent releases will always be available in the repository. NOTE: For releases prior to 371.0.0, the package name is google-cloud-sdk

macOS

1. Confirm that you have a supported version of Python:
   • To check your current Python version, run python3 -V or python -V. Supported versions are Python 3.8 to 3.13.
   • The main install script offers to install CPython's Python 3.11.
   • Otherwise, to install a supported Python version, please visit the Python.org Python Releases for macOS.
   • If you have multiple Python interpreters installed on your machine, set the CLOUDSDK_PYTHON environment variable within your shell to point to the path of your preferred interpreter.
   • For more information on how to choose and configure your Python interpreter, see gcloud topic startup.
2. Download one of the following:
   Note: To determine your machine hardware name, run uname -m from a command line.

Platform	Package	Size	SHA256 Checksum
macOS 64-bit (x86_64)	google-cloud-cli-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz	53.9 MB	9d1af0d2b5e7c8a30145831b99ce46272fc0aba754d7d23dcd3ede414b9ff75a
macOS 64-bit (ARM64, Apple M1 silicon)	google-cloud-cli-darwin-arm.tar.gz	53.9 MB	d986d0c6531be038b71218f8e7e666c5b4d18ef580d6a063550406ed07e460f9
macOS 32-bit (x86)	google-cloud-cli-darwin-x86.tar.gz	52.6 MB	e98b4bf6449b9207ff5c4bd3df12a1b38ffa0f498274b26f2d80cfe7fb124f81

1. Extract the archive to any location on your file system (preferably your Home directory). On macOS, this can be achieved by opening the downloaded .tar.gz archive file in the preferred location.

   To replace an existing installation, remove the existing google-cloud-sdk directory and then extract the archive to the same location.

2. (Optional) Use the install script to add gcloud CLI tools to your PATH.You can also opt-in to command-completion for your shell, usage statistics collection, and install Python 3.11.

   Run the script (from the root of the folder you extracted in the last step) using this command:

   ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh
   

   This can also be done non-interactively (for example, using a script) by providing preferences as flags. To describe the available flags, run:

   ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --help
   

   To run the install script with screen reader mode on:

   ./google-cloud-sdk/install.sh --screen-reader=true
   

   Open a new terminal so that the changes take effect.
3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run gcloud init:

./google-cloud-sdk/bin/gcloud init

4. Optional. Install additional components using the component manager.

Windows

The Google Cloud CLI works on Windows 8.1 and later and Windows Server 2012 and later.

1. Download the Google Cloud CLI installer.

   Alternatively, open a PowerShell terminal and run the following PowerShell commands:

   (New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://dl.google.com/dl/cloudsdk/channels/rapid/GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe", "$env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe")
   
   & $env:Temp\GoogleCloudSDKInstaller.exe
       

2. Launch the installer and follow the prompts. The installer is signed by Google LLC.

   If you're using a screen reader, check the Turn on screen reader mode checkbox. This option configures gcloud to use status trackers instead of unicode spinners, display progress as a percentage, and flatten tables. For more information, see the Accessibility features guide.

3. Google Cloud CLI requires Python; supported versions are Python 3.8 to 3.13. By default, the Windows version of Google Cloud CLI comes bundled with Python 3. To use Google Cloud CLI your operating system must be able to run a supported version of Python.

   The installer installs all necessary dependencies, including the needed Python version. While Google Cloud CLI installs and manages Python 3 by default, you can use an existing Python installation if necessary by unchecking the option to Install Bundled Python. See gcloud topic startup to learn how to use an existing Python installation.

4. After installation is complete, the installer gives you the option to create Start Menu and Desktop shortcuts, start the Google Cloud CLI shell, and configure the gcloud CLI. Make sure that you leave the options to start the shell and configure your installation selected. The installer starts a terminal window and runs the gcloud init command.

5. The default installation doesn't include the App Engine extensions required to deploy an application using gcloud commands. These components can be installed using the gcloud CLI component manager.

Troubleshooting tips:

• If your installation is unsuccessful due to the find command not being recognized, ensure your PATH environment variable is set to include the folder containing find. Usually, this is C:\WINDOWS\system32;.
• If you uninstalled the gcloud CLI, you must reboot your system before installing the gcloud CLI again.
• If unzipping fails, run the installer as an administrator.

As part of installing gsutil, you must set the CLOUDSDK_PYTHON environment variable to use the correct Python version. For more details, see the gcloud startup topic.

Perform updates with the components update command: gcloud components update.

Setting Up Credentials to Access Protected Data

In order to access protected data or write to a protected bucket, you need to set up credentials (authenticate). For example, if someone else has created a Cloud Storage account and uploaded data that is only accessible to you or other specific individuals, you must set up your credentials to the Cloud Storage service to be able to access this data.

When using gsutil as part of the Google Cloud CLI, OAuth2 is used to authenticate and authorize access to your Cloud Storage resources. To establish access, run the command gcloud init and follow the instructions provided in the command line, which include logging into your user account. Note that you likely already performed this setup if you followed the installation steps above. If you ran gcloud init previously, when you run the command again you are asked if you want to re-initialize the configuration or create a new one. For more information, see Initialize the Google Cloud CLI.

That's it. You're ready to access protected data. To see a listing of gsutil commands, type gsutil at the command prompt.

Troubleshooting

If you try to authenticate gsutil using the gcloud init command, but are still not able to access the expected buckets or objects, your system might have both the legacy, stand-alone version of gsutil and the Google Cloud CLI-bundled version of gsutil installed on it. Run the command gsutil version -l and check the value for using cloud sdk. If False, your system is using the stand-alone version of gsutil when you run commands. It's recommended that you remove the stand-alone version of gsutil from your system; however, you can alternatively authenticate using gsutil config -a or gsutil config -e.

Authenticate with HMAC

While OAuth 2.0 is the recommended way to authenticate gsutil, you can also use HMAC keys for your credentials. To authenticate with HMAC, use the following command:

gsutil config -a

Using this command takes you through an authentication process in which you are prompted for the access ID and secret associated with your HMAC key.

When authenticating with HMAC keys, you should disable credential passing from the Google Cloud CLI by using the command: gcloud config set pass_credentials_to_gsutil false.

Enable mTLS

You might also want to enable mutual TLS (mTLS). When mTLS is enabled on your device, your device attempts to connect to the mTLS request endpoint for the JSON API. Before the connection is allowed, Cloud Storage verifies the certificate on your device.

Note: This feature only works when gsutil makes requests through the Cloud Storage JSON API.

The simplest way to to obtain a certificate is through Google Cloud CLI. You can set one manually in the .boto file by setting the following values under "Credentials":

1. use_client_certificate: A flag controlling whether or not to use mTLS.
2. cert_provider_command: A shell command that prints a certificate to stdout for gsutil to read.

Try it for yourself

If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how Cloud Storage performs in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

Try Cloud Storage free