Restore a Compute Engine instance from self-managed storage
Stay organized with collections
Save and categorize content based on your preferences.
You can restore images of Compute Engine instances protected using the
management console. When you restore an image, the backup plan management
of the instance is disabled in the App Manager.
The management console lets you to restore a local solid-state drive (SSD)
VM only if the source VM was configured with local SSD during VM creation.
Local solid-state drives (SSDs) are physically attached to the server that
hosts your VM instance. Local SSDs are suitable only for temporary storage
such as caches, processing space, or low value data. For details, see
local SSDs and Create a VM with a local SSD. You cannot
restore a VM until the source VM is deleted, because a VM with local SSD
cannot be powered off when the VM instance is running.
Before restoring a backup image, make sure you have all the required
permissions. See Permissions for details.
Use these instructions to restore a point-in-time image from a managed instance:
From the Backup and DR Service management console, click
App Manager and select Applications from the drop-down menu.
The Applications page opens.
Filter applications by type Compute Engine.
Select the Compute Engine instance that has the image you want to restore,
and then choose Access from the drop-down list at the bottom of the
Applications page.
Select the image to restore, then select Restore from the list of access
operations.
The Restore page opens.
From the Cloud Credential Name drop-down, select an existing credential.
For more information, see Manage Cloud credentials.
The Project Name, Instance Name, Zone, and Sole Tenancy are
pre-populated from the metadata of the backup image. You cannot modify these
properties.
Optionally, enable the Update Source Labels and Network Tags from Backup
option.
From Select Volumes To Restore, select a single volume or multiple
volumes to restore. By default, all volumes are selected.
Unselect Power On if you want to power off the Compute Engine instance
after the restore is complete.
Select Provision Local SSD to provision new local SSD disks to the
recovered VM with the same configuration as the source.
Click Restore.
A warning dialog opens.
Read the warning dialog and then enter DATA LOSS to confirm.
A second warning appears.
Enter OVERWRITE OTHER APPS to confirm the restore operation.
The restore job starts. You can verify that the restore operation is
successful by viewing the job status in the Monitor.
Impact of restoring instances where disks are encrypted with CMEK
If you are restoring a Compute Engine instance that has attached disks that
are encrypted with Customer Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK), then be aware of the
following:
To determine which key version is in use by a snapshot image:
Go to Back up & Recover > Recover.
Right-click the relevant application, select Access and then identify
both the image name and consistency date of the relevant image from the access page.
Now go to the Google Cloud console Compute Engine > Snapshots.
Locate the snapshot for the relevant disk with a matching snapshot creation time.
Select the snapshot to view the details view for that snapshot.
Go to the Key ID field. You can validate this by matching the
snapshot by reviewing the snapshot label which should contain the image name.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eRestoring a Compute Engine instance image disables the instance's backup plan management in the App Manager.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eLocal SSD VM restoration is only possible if the source VM was initially configured with a local SSD during its creation, which is only meant for temporary storage.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBefore restoring an image, it is crucial to ensure all required permissions are in place, as detailed in the Permissions documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWhen restoring, users can select specific volumes to restore and can optionally update source labels and network tags from the backup.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIf restoring instances with disks encrypted with Customer Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK), the restored disks will use the same key version as the selected snapshot, and disabling or deleting the key version will result in restoration failure.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Restore a Compute Engine instance from self-managed storage\n\nYou can restore images of Compute Engine instances protected using the\nmanagement console. When you restore an image, the backup plan management\nof the instance is disabled in the **App Manager**.\n\nThe management console lets you to restore a local solid-state drive (SSD)\nVM only if the source VM was configured with local SSD during VM creation.\nLocal solid-state drives (SSDs) are physically attached to the server that\nhosts your VM instance. Local SSDs are suitable only for temporary storage\nsuch as caches, processing space, or low value data. For details, see\n[local SSDs](/compute/docs/disks/local-ssd) and [Create a VM with a local SSD](/compute/docs/disks/add-local-ssd#create_local_ssd). You cannot\nrestore a VM until the source VM is deleted, because a VM with local SSD\ncannot be powered off when the VM instance is running.\n\nBefore restoring a backup image, make sure you have all the required\npermissions. See [Permissions](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/access-data/permissions#permissions) for details.\n\nUse these instructions to restore a point-in-time image from a managed instance:\n\n1. From the Backup and DR Service management console, click\n **App Manager** and select **Applications** from the drop-down menu.\n\n The **Applications** page opens.\n2. Filter applications by type **Compute Engine**.\n\n3. Select the Compute Engine instance that has the image you want to restore,\n and then choose **Access** from the drop-down list at the bottom of the\n **Applications** page.\n\n The **Access** page opens listing captured images appear in the timeline ramp\n view. For more information on the view, see\n [Access the timeline ramp view of an image](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/access-data/access-image-copy-data-list#access-time).\n4. Select the image to restore, then select **Restore** from the list of access\n operations.\n\n The **Restore** page opens.\n5. From the **Cloud Credential Name** drop-down, select an existing credential.\n For more information, see [Manage Cloud credentials](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/configuration/create-cloud-credentials).\n\n The **Project Name** , **Instance Name** , **Zone** , and **Sole Tenancy** are\n pre-populated from the metadata of the backup image. You cannot modify these\n properties.\n6. Optionally, enable the **Update Source Labels and Network Tags from Backup**\n option.\n\n7. From **Select Volumes To Restore**, select a single volume or multiple\n volumes to restore. By default, all volumes are selected.\n\n8. Unselect **Power On** if you want to power off the Compute Engine instance\n after the restore is complete.\n\n9. Select **Provision Local SSD** to provision new local SSD disks to the\n recovered VM with the same configuration as the source.\n\n10. Click **Restore**.\n\n A warning dialog opens.\n11. Read the warning dialog and then enter **DATA LOSS** to confirm.\n\n A second warning appears.\n12. Enter **OVERWRITE OTHER APPS** to confirm the restore operation.\n\n The restore job starts. You can verify that the restore operation is\n successful by viewing the job status in the **Monitor**.\n\nImpact of restoring instances where disks are encrypted with CMEK\n-----------------------------------------------------------------\n\nIf you are restoring a Compute Engine instance that has attached disks that\nare encrypted with Customer Managed Encryption Keys (CMEK), then be aware of the\nfollowing:\n\n- The restored disks will be encrypted with the same key version that the selected snapshot of the disks is encrypted with. This may result in the instance being not only restored, but also encrypted with a newer key version. See [Rotate your Cloud Key Management Service encryption key for a persistent disk](/compute/docs/disks/customer-managed-encryption#rotate_encryption).\n- If the key version in use by the snapshot is disabled or deleted then the restore operation will fail. See [Impact of disabling or deleting CMEKs](/compute/docs/disks/customer-managed-encryption#impact_of_disabling_or_deleting_cmeks).\n\n### View key version\n\nTo determine which key version is in use by a snapshot image:\n\n1. Go to **Back up \\& Recover** \\\u003e **Recover**.\n2. Right-click the relevant application, select **Access** and then identify both the image name and consistency date of the relevant image from the access page.\n3. Now go to the Google Cloud console **Compute Engine** \\\u003e **Snapshots**.\n4. Locate the snapshot for the relevant disk with a matching snapshot creation time.\n5. Select the snapshot to view the details view for that snapshot.\n6. Go to the **Key ID** field. You can validate this by matching the snapshot by reviewing the snapshot label which should contain the image name.\n\nThe Backup and DR Compute Engine guide\n--------------------------------------\n\n- [Check for the cloud credentials](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/configuration/create-cloud-credentials)\n- [Discover and protect Compute Engine instances](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/configuration/discover-and-protect-ce-inst)\n- [Mount backup images of Compute Engine instances](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/access-data/mount-snapshot-images-of-cloud-instances)\n- [Restore a Compute Engine instance](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/restore-data/restore-instance)\n- [Import Persistent Disk snapshot images](/backup-disaster-recovery/docs/configuration/import-pdsnapshot-images)"]]
