Console
    Contact Us Start free

    Operating system details

    This page provides general operating system (OS) details and feature support for the OS images that are available on Compute Engine.

    Some OS images are customized specifically to run on Compute Engine and have notable differences from the standard images that come directly from the operating system vendors. These differences are also covered for each OS.

    For information about how support and maintenance is provided for these OS images on Compute Engine, based on support package, license type, and image lifecycle stage, see Support and maintenance policy for OS images .

    CentOS

    CentOS Linux is a free operating system that is derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Google Cloud builds and supports the CentOS images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using CentOS with Compute Engine.

    CentOS Stream is a distribution that is continuously delivered and tracks just ahead of RHEL development. CentOS Stream is positioned as a midstream development platform between Fedora Linux and RHEL.

    Automatic updates

    By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

    • The dnf-automatic tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
    • The upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
    • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
    Image configuration

    The CentOS Stream images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard CentOS Stream images:

    Account configuration

    • There are no local users configured with passwords.

    Bootloader configuration

    • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .

    Network configuration

    • IPv6 is enabled.
    • The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
      • Password authentication is disabled.
      • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
      • Root login is disabled.
    • /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
    • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
    • By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal CentOS methods.
    • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

    Package system and repository configuration

    • Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI .
      • Repositories are set to use the CentOS default mirror network.
        • Automatic updates are configured as follows:
          • For CentOS Stream, automatic updates are enabled by using dnf automatic .
          • For all versions, the update_cmd property is set to security .However, by default CentOS does not offer security tagged repositories.

        Storage configuration

        • By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
        • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI .
        • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

        Time configuration

        • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

        General information

        OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
        CentOS Stream 9
        		centos-cloud centos-stream-9 centos-stream-9-arm64 All except A4, G4, and A4X GA May 31, 2027
        CentOS Stream 8
        		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS May 2024
        CentOS 8
        		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS Dec 2021
        CentOS 7
        		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS June 30, 2024

        Interfaces

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        CentOS Stream 9
        CentOS Stream 8
        CentOS 8
        CentOS 7
        		 * *

        * If a multiple NIC VM is created using this OS image, the VM might lose network connectivity after rebooting. This happens if one of these NICs uses a non-VirtIO interface. For more information, see known issues .

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        CentOS Stream 9
        		* †
        CentOS Stream 8
        CentOS 8
        CentOS 7

        * This OS image doesn't support Secure Boot on ARM64.
        † Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        CentOS Stream 9
        CentOS Stream 8
        CentOS 8
        CentOS 7

        Networking features

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        CentOS Stream 9 **
        CentOS Stream 8 **
        CentOS 8 **
        		EOS EOS EOS
        CentOS 7 **
        		EOS EOS EOS

        # Only available with certain machine series.
        ** This OS image has predictable network interface names disabled. Newer image families may have a different network interface naming scheme.

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
        CentOS Stream 9
        CentOS Stream 8
        		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
        CentOS 8
        		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
        CentOS 7
        		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        CentOS Stream 9
        CentOS Stream 8
        CentOS 8
        CentOS 7

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        CentOS Stream 9
        CentOS Stream 8
        CentOS 8
        CentOS 7

        License

        OS version License type License URL
        CentOS Stream 9
        		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/centos-cloud/global/licenses/centos-stream-9
        CentOS Stream 8
        		 EOS EOS
        CentOS 8
        		 EOS EOS
        CentOS 7
        		 EOS EOS

        Container-Optimized OS (COS)

        Container-Optimized OS from Google is an operating system image for your Compute Engine instances that is optimized for running Docker containers. Google Cloud builds and supports the Container-Optimized OS images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Container-Optimized OS with Compute Engine.

        For more information about Container-Optimized OS, see the Container-Optimized OS overview or release notes .

        Automatic updates

        This operating system can be configured to install security updates by using Automatic updates . On versions 117 and later, automatic updates are disabled by default. On versions 113 and earlier, automatic updates are enabled by default.

        The automatic updates have the following behaviors:

        • They don't upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
        • They might require reboots to take effect. These reboots don't happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        Network configuration

        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        General information

        OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
        COS 121 LTS
        		 cos-cloud cos-121-lts cos-arm64-121-lts All except G2 GA March 2027
        COS 117 LTS
        		 cos-cloud cos-117-lts cos-arm64-117-lts All except G4, G2 GA September 2026
        COS 113 LTS
        		 cos-cloud cos-113-lts cos-arm64-113-lts All except A4X, G4, G2 GA April 2026
        COS 109 LTS
        		 cos-cloud cos-109-lts cos-arm64-109-lts All except A4X, G4, G2, X4 GA September 2025
        COS 105 LTS
        		 cos-cloud cos-105-lts cos-arm64-105-lts All except A4X, A4, G4, G2, X4, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA March 2025
        COS 101 LTS
        		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS September 2024

        Interfaces

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        Networking features

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        # Only available with certain machine series.

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        For G2 VMs, the current default driver for Container-Optimized OS, don't support L4 GPUs running on G2 machine types. You might be able to install a supported version, see G2 limitations .

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS
        		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        COS 121 LTS
        COS 117 LTS
        COS 113 LTS
        COS 109 LTS
        COS 105 LTS
        COS 101 LTS

        License

        OS version License type License URL
        COS 121 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos
        COS 117 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos
        COS 113 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos
        COS 109 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos
        COS 105 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos
        COS 101 LTS
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/cos-cloud/global/licenses/cos

        Debian

        Debian is a free operating system offered by the Debian community . Google Cloud builds and supports the Debian images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Debian with Compute Engine.

        Automatic updates

        By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Debian UnattendedUpgrades tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

        • The UnattendedUpgrades tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
        • The UnattendedUpgrades tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Debian security repository.
        • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        The Debian image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository .

        • Debian build tools come from the Debian Cloud team image project .

        Debian images are always built with the latest Debian packages which reflect the most recent Debian point release.

        The Debian images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Debian images:

        Account configuration

        • There are no local users configured with passwords.

        Bootloader configuration

        • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .
        • To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

        Network configuration

        • IPv6 is enabled.
        • The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
          • Password authentication is disabled.
          • Root login is disabled.
        • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        Package system and repository configuration

        • Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI . The guest environment packages and the Google Cloud CLI packages are installed and enabled by default.
        • The APT sources are set to use the Debian CDN.
        • The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic .
        • The cloud-initramfs-growroot package is removed and replaced with the Google supported gce-disk-expand package.
        • The linux-image-cloud-amd64 kernel is installed instead of the generic Debian kernel.
        • The haveged package is installed to provide entropy.

        Storage configuration

        • Images are 10 GB by default.
        • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI . There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
        • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

        Time configuration

        • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

        General information

        OS version
        Image project
        x86 image family
        Arm image family
        Machine series
        Lifecycle stage
        EOS and image deprecation date
        Debian 12
        debian-cloud
        debian-12
        debian-12-arm64
        All except A4X, X4, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal
        GA
        TBD
        Debian 11
        debian-cloud
        debian-11
        N/A
        All except A4X, G4, A4, A3 Ultra, X4, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal
        • X86: GA
        • Arm: EOS
        • X86: August 31, 2026
        • Arm: August 15, 2024
        Debian 10
        N/A
        N/A
        N/A
        N/A
        EOS
        June 30, 2024

        Interfaces

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10

        * This OS image supports NVMe but does not include all optimizations for NVMe.

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10

        Networking features

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        Debian 12
        		 †
        Debian 11
        		 * †
        Debian 10
        		 †

        * You can update the gVNIC driver to the latest version to enable network egress bandwidths of 200 Gbps. For more information, see the Requirements and limitations section of "Configure per VM Tier_1 networking performance".
        † Fully supported with VirtIO, but requires an updated driver to use with gVNIC. For more information, see Jumbo frames .
        # Only available with certain machine series.

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10
        		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        Debian 12
        Debian 11
        Debian 10

        License

        OS version License type License URL
        Debian 12
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-12-bookworm
        Debian 11
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-11-bullseye
        Debian 10
        		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-10-buster

        Fedora CoreOS

        Fedora CoreOS is a distribution that provides features that are needed to run modern infrastructure stacks. Fedora CoreOS uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. Google Cloud provides Fedora CoreOS images built and supported by Fedora. There is no license fee for using Fedora CoreOS with Compute Engine.

        Automatic updates

        By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the FedoraCoreOS automatic update tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

        • These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
        • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        Network configuration

        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        General information

        OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        		 fedora-coreos-cloud fedora-coreos-stable fedora-coreos-stable-arm64 All except A4, A3, A2, G2, G4 GA Rolling
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        		 fedora-coreos-cloud fedora-coreos-testing fedora-coreos-testing-arm64 All except A4, A3, A2, G2, G4 GA Rolling
        Fedora CoreOS Next
        		 fedora-coreos-cloud fedora-coreos-next fedora-coreos-next-arm64 All except A4, A3, A2, G2, G4 GA Rolling

        Interfaces

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        		 *
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        		 *
        Fedora CoreOS Next
        		 *

        * This OS image doesn't support Secure Boot on ARM64.

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        Networking features

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G2 (L4) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) N1+GPU
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next

        License

        OS version License type License URL
        Fedora CoreOS Stable
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/fedora-coreos-cloud/global/licenses/fedora-coreos-stable
        Fedora CoreOS Testing
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/fedora-coreos-cloud/global/licenses/fedora-coreos-testing
        Fedora CoreOS Next
        		 Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/fedora-coreos-cloud/global/licenses/fedora-coreos-next

        Oracle Linux

        Oracle Linux is a Linux operating system (OS) provided by Oracle with everything required to deploy, optimize, and manage applications on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge.

        Oracle builds and supports the Oracle Linux images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Oracle Linux with Compute Engine. Oracle is responsible for ensuring that Oracle Linux works with Google Cloud features and that security updates are maintained. For issues related to Oracle Linux, you must consult community resources or get enterprise-level support directly from Oracle.

        For more information on Oracle Linux visit Oracle's document library for Oracle Linux .

        Automatic updates

        By default, Oracle Linux images don't automatically install security updates. To configure automatic security updates, run the following commands:

        sudo dnf install -y dnf-automatic
   sudo sed -i 's/upgrade_type =.*/upgrade_type = security/' /etc/dnf/automatic.conf
   sudo sed -i 's/apply_updates =.*/apply_updates = yes/' /etc/dnf/automatic.conf
   sudo systemctl enable dnf-automatic.timer
   sudo systemctl start dnf-automatic.timer

        Automatic updates have the following behaviors:

        • dnf-automatic doesn't upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
        • The upgrade tool only applies updates marked by Oracle as security updates.
        • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots don't happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        The Oracle Linux images that are provided by Compute Engine reflect the most recent point release. Currently you cannot pin a VM to a point release. These images have the following differences in configuration from standard Oracle Linux images:

        Account configuration

        • There are no local users configured with passwords.

        Bootloader configuration

        • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .
        • The I/O scheduler is set to noop .

        Network configuration

        • IPv6 is enabled.
        • The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
          • Password authentication is disabled.
          • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
          • Root login is disabled.
        • /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
        • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
        • By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal Oracle Linux methods.
        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        Package system and repository configuration

        • The Google Cloud repository is enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and disabled for the Google Cloud CLI . The Google Cloud CLI can be installed as follows: dnf install -y google-cloud-cli --enablerepo google-cloud-sdk
        • Automatic security updates are disabled by default. To enable, refer to the instructions in the Automatic updates section .

        Storage configuration

        • By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
        • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI .

        Time configuration

        • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

        General information

        OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
        Oracle Linux 9
        		oracle-linux-cloud oracle-linux-9 N/A N2, N4, C3, C4, N2D, C2D, C3D and M3 GA Jun 2032
        Oracle Linux 8
        		oracle-linux-cloud oracle-linux-8 N/A N2, N4, C3, C4, N2D, C2D, C3D and M3 GA Jul 2029

        Interfaces

        Oracle Linux images use the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) by default. The interface support listed in the table applies to images that use the UEK. You can optionally configure Oracle Linux images to use the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) , which is additionally installed on Oracle Linux images. If you use the RHCK, Oracle Linux images support the same interfaces as the corresponding Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) listed in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) section of this document.

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        gcloud CLI is not pre-installed in the images, however the Google Cloud SDK repository is setup. To install gcloud CLI you can run this command: dnf install -y google-cloud-cli --enablerepo google-cloud-sdk

        Networking features

        Oracle Linux images use the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) by default. The networking features support listed in the table applies to images that use the UEK. You can optionally configure Oracle Linux images to use the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) , which is additionally installed on Oracle Linux images. If you use the RHCK, Oracle Linux images support the same networking features as the corresponding Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) listed in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) section of this document.

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        # Only available with certain machine series.

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        Oracle Linux images use the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) by default. The GPU support listed in the table applies to images that use the UEK. You can optionally configure Oracle Linux images to use the Red Hat Compatible Kernel (RHCK) , which is additionally installed on Oracle Linux images. If you use the RHCK, Oracle Linux images support the same GPUs as the corresponding Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) listed in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) section of this document.

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        Oracle Linux 9
        Oracle Linux 8

        License

        OS version License type License URL
        Oracle Linux 9
        		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/oracle-linux-cloud/global/licenses/oracle-linux-9
        Oracle Linux 8
        		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/oracle-linux-cloud/global/licenses/oracle-linux-8

        Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

        Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is an open-source Linux operating system that provides both server and desktop operating systems. Google Cloud builds and supports the RHEL OS images available for Compute Engine.

        RHEL images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. If you want to use an existing RHEL subscription, you can use the Red Hat Cloud Access feature.

        The Red Hat Knowledgebase provides you with access to articles, solutions, product documentation, and community discussions. The Red Hat Knowledgebase is available as a single-sign-on (SSO) option through the Google Cloud console. See Access Red Hat Knowledgebase .

        To view a list of frequently asked questions when running RHEL on Compute Engine, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux FAQ .

        Automatic updates

        By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the RHEL yum-cron (RHEL 7) or dnf automatic (RHEL 8+) tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

        • These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
        • Starting with RHEL 7, the operating system is also configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
        • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        The RHEL image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository .

        RHEL images are always built with the latest RHEL packages, which reflect the most recent point release. Currently, you cannot pin a VM to a point release.

        RHEL for SAP images are tagged to the specific point release they are built for as supported by Red Hat.

        The RHEL images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard RHEL images:

        Account configuration

        • There are no local users configured with passwords.

        Bootloader configuration

        • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .
        • The I/O scheduler is set to noop .

        Network configuration

        • IPv6 is enabled.
        • The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
          • Password authentication is disabled.
          • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
          • Root login is disabled.
        • /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
        • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
        • By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal RHEL methods.
        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        Package and repository configuration

        • Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI .
        • RHEL for SAP yum vars are set to peg the client to the supported RHEL for SAP point release.
        • RHEL content comes from the Compute Engine Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) servers. If you're unable to get updates from the Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) servers, the RHUI client package might need to be updated. To update to the latest RHUI client package, run the following command: 
          dnf -y -q update 'google-rhui-client*'
        • The Google RHUI client package, which contains the configuration needed to access RHEL content, is installed.
        • The Red Hat subscription-manager package is removed because it is not used for pay as you go images.
        • Automatic updates are enabled as follows:
          • For RHEL 8+, by using dnf automatic .
          • For all versions, the update_cmd property is set to security .

        Storage configuration

        • By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
        • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI .

        Time configuration

        • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

        General information

        OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
        RHEL 9
        		rhel-cloud rhel-9 rhel-9-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, X4 GA May 2032
        RHEL 8
        		rhel-cloud rhel-8 rhel-8-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, X4 GA May 2029
        RHEL 7
        		N/A N/A N/A All except C4 with 288 vCPUs, G4 EOS * ELS † June 2024 (ELS ends June 2028)
        RHEL 6
        		N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS * November 2020 (ELS ends June 30, 2024)
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-9-4-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A GA April 2028
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-9-2-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA May 2027
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-9-0-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA May 2026
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-8-10-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A GA May 2029
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-8-8-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA May 2027
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-8-6-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA May 2026
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        		rhel-sap-cloud rhel-8-4-sap-ha N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, X4, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3-metal GA May 2025
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        		N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS * April 2024
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP
        		N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS * ELS † June 2024 (ELS ends June 2028)

        * EOS : End of support.

        † ELS : To use this OS image, you must have a subscription or an Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On. You can append the ELS Add-On to your RHEL 6 VMs as described in Append RHEL ELS licenses .

        Interfaces

        OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
        RHEL 9
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        		# #
        RHEL 6
        		*
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP
        		# #

        * This OS image supports NVMe but does not include all optimizations for NVMe.

        # If a multiple NIC VM is created using this OS image, the VM might lose network connectivity after rebooting. This happens if one of these NICs uses a non-VirtIO interface. See known issues .

        Security features

        OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
        RHEL 9
        		* †
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        RHEL 6
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP

        * This OS image doesn't support Secure Boot on ARM64.
        † Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

        User space features

        OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
        RHEL 9
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        RHEL 6
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP

        Networking features

        OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
        RHEL 9 **
        RHEL 8 **
        RHEL 7 **
        		* †
        RHEL 6 **
        		EOS EOS EOS
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP **
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP **
        		* †
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP **
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP **
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP **
        		*
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP **
        		* †
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP **
        		* †
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP **
        		* †

        * You can update the gVNIC driver to the latest version to enable network egress bandwidths of 200 Gbps. For more information, see the Requirements and limitations section of "Configure per VM Tier_1 networking performance".

        † Fully supported with VirtIO, but requires an updated driver to use with gVNIC. For more information, see Jumbo frames .

        # Only available with certain machine series.

        ** This OS image has predictable network interface names disabled. Newer image families may have a different network interface naming scheme.

        GPU support

        N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

        For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

        OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
        RHEL 9
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        		EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
        RHEL 6
        		EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        		EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP
        		EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

        VM Manager

        OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
        RHEL 9
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        RHEL 6
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP

        Import

        For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

        OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
        RHEL 9
        RHEL 8
        RHEL 7
        RHEL 6
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP

        License

        OS version
        License type
        License URL
        RHEL 9
        • On-demand (Default)
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-server
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-byos
        RHEL 8
        • On-demand (Default)
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-server
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-byos
        RHEL 7
        • On-demand (Default)
        • ELS †

        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-7-server
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-7-els
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-7-byos
        RHEL 6
        • On-demand (Default)
        • ELS †
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-6-server
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-6-els
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-6-byos
        RHEL 9.4 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap-byos
        RHEL 9.2 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap-byos
        RHEL 9.0 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-9-sap-byos
        RHEL 8.10 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap-byos
        RHEL 8.8 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap-byos
        RHEL 8.6 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap-byos
        RHEL 8.4 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap-byos
        RHEL 8.2 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-8-sap-byos
        RHEL 7.9 for SAP
        • On-demand
        • BYOS
        • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rhel-sap-cloud/global/licenses/rhel-7-sap
        • N/A

        † ELS : To use this OS image, you must have a subscription or an Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On. You can append the ELS Add-On to your RHEL 6 VMs as described in Append RHEL ELS licenses .

        Rocky Linux

        Rocky Linux is a free, open, community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Google Cloud builds and supports the Rocky Linux images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Rocky Linux with Compute Engine.

        The following two versions of Rocky Linux operating systems are available on Compute Engine:

        • A fully open source version
        • A version optimized for Google Cloud: this version has the suffix -optimized-gcp and is pre-configured to use the latest version of the Google virtual network interface (gVNIC).
        Automatic updates

        By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

        • dnf-automatic does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
        • The upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
        • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
        Image configuration

        Rocky Linux images are built and maintained by CIQ . Rocky Linux images are always built with the latest Rocky Linux packages which reflect the most recent Rocky Linux point release. The Rocky Linux images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Rocky Linux images:

        Account configuration

        • There are no local users configured with passwords.

        Bootloader configuration

        • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .

        Network configuration

        • IPv6 is enabled.
        • The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
          • Password authentication is disabled.
          • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
          • Root login is disabled.
        • /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules is disabled.
        • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.
        • By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal Rocky Linux methods.
        • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

        Package system and repository configuration

        • Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI .
          • Repositories are set to use the Rocky Linux default mirror network.
            • The PowerTools repository is enabled.
          • Automatic updates are configured as follows:
            • Automatic updates are enabled by using dnf automatic .
            • For all versions, the update_cmd property is set to security . However, by default Rocky Linux does not offer security tagged repositories.

          Storage configuration

          • By default, images are 20 GB.
          • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI .
          • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

          Time configuration

          • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

          General information

          OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          		rocky-linux-cloud rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra GA May 2032
          Rocky Linux 9
          		rocky-linux-cloud rocky-linux-9 rocky-linux-9-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra GA May 2032
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		rocky-linux-accelerator-cloud rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp-nvidia-570 N/A A4X, A4, A3 Ultra GA Jan 2026
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		rocky-linux-accelerator-cloud rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp-nvidia-550 N/A A3 Ultra EOL June 2025
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          		rocky-linux-cloud rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra, X4 GA May 2029
          Rocky Linux 8
          		rocky-linux-cloud rocky-linux-8 N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra, T2A, C4A, X4 GA May 2029
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		rocky-linux-accelerator-cloud rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp-nvidia-570 N/A A4, A3 Ultra GA Jan 2026
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		rocky-linux-accelerator-cloud rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp-nvidia-550 N/A A3 Ultra EOL June 2025

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          		*
          Rocky Linux 9
          		*
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          * Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud **
          Rocky Linux 9 **
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud **
          Rocky Linux 8 **
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          # Only available with certain machine series.
          ** This OS image has predictable network interface names disabled. Newer image families may have a different network interface naming scheme.

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          The Rocky Linux 8 and 9 Accelerated OS images are optimized for supporting your artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) workloads. To learn more about how these images are optimized for these workloads, see Operating systems in the AI Hypercomputer documentation.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          Rocky Linux 8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550

          License

          OS version License type License URL
          Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google Cloud
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp
          Rocky Linux 9
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-9
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp
          Rocky Linux 9 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-9-optimized-gcp
          Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google Cloud
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp
          Rocky Linux 8
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-8
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp
          Rocky Linux 8 Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/rocky-linux-cloud/global/licenses/rocky-linux-8-optimized-gcp

          SQL Server on Linux

          Microsoft SQL Server can be used on Linux-based VMs or images with an on-demand license. Google does not provide pre-configured images for SQL Server on Linux.

          Microsoft SQL Server images are not supported for VMs created on the C4A machine series and the T2A machine series .

          License

          To use on-demand / pay-as-you-go (PAYG) licenses for Microsoft SQL Server on a Linux VM or image, see Add a SQL Server license to an existing Linux server .

          Version License type License
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Enterprise on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-enterprise-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Standard on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-standard-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Web on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-web-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-enterprise-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-standard-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Web on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-web-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Enterprise on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-enterprise-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-standard-on-linux
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Web on Linux
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/linux-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-web-on-linux

          SQL Server on Windows

          Microsoft SQL Server images are similar to the standard Windows Server operating system images, but they include Microsoft SQL Server preinstalled.

          Microsoft SQL Server images are not supported for VMs created on the C4A machine series and the T2A machine series . Using a Microsoft SQL Server Windows image with a bare metal instance isn't supported.

          Automatic updates

          By default, this operating system is configured to "Auto download and schedule the install" for Microsoft updates. To configure Windows Server automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates .
          Image configuration

          General information

          To use Microsoft SQL Server on a Windows VM with an on-demand / pay-as-you-go (PAYG) license, see Add a SQL Server license to an existing Windows server .

          Version Image project Image family Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022
          		 windows-sql-cloud sql-web-2022-win-2025
          sql-web-2022-win-2022
          sql-web-2022-win-2019
          sql-std-2022-win-2025
          sql-std-2022-win-2022
          sql-std-2022-win-2019
          sql-ent-2022-win-2025
          sql-ent-2022-win-2022
          sql-ent-2022-win-2019                     		GA Jan 11, 2033
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019
          		 windows-sql-cloud sql-web-2019-win-2025
          sql-web-2019-win-2022
          sql-web-2019-win-2019
          sql-std-2019-win-2025
          sql-std-2019-win-2022
          sql-std-2019-win-2019
          sql-ent-2019-win-2025
          sql-ent-2019-win-2022
          sql-ent-2019-win-2019                     		GA Jan 8, 2030
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017
          		 windows-sql-cloud sql-web-2017-win-2025
          sql-web-2017-win-2022
          sql-web-2017-win-2019
          sql-web-2017-win-2016
          sql-std-2017-win-2025
          sql-std-2017-win-2022
          sql-std-2017-win-2019
          sql-std-2017-win-2016
          sql-exp-2017-win-2019
          sql-exp-2017-win-2016
          sql-ent-2017-win-2025
          sql-ent-2017-win-2022
          sql-ent-2017-win-2019
          sql-ent-2017-win-2016                     		GA Oct 12, 2027
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016
          		 windows-sql-cloud sql-web-2016-win-2019
          sql-web-2016-win-2016
          sql-std-2016-win-2019
          sql-std-2016-win-2016
          sql-ent-2016-win-2019
          sql-ent-2016-win-2016                     		GA Jul 14, 2026
          Microsoft SQL Server 2014
          		 EOS EOS EOS Jul 9, 2024

          SQL Server edition support

          Editions Enterprise Standard Web Express
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016
          Microsoft SQL Server 2014
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS

          Windows Server version support

          Version Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Windows 2022 Windows 2025
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Web

          License

          Version License type License
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Enterprise
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Standard
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Web
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2022-web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Standard
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Web
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2019-web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Enterprise
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standard
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Web
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Express
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2017-express
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Enterprise
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2016-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Standard
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2016-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Web
          		 On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2016-web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Enterprise
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2014-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2014-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Web
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2014-web
          Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2012-enterprise
          Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2012-standard
          Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Web
          		 EOS https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2012-web

          SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

          SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) , a versatile server operating system for deploying highly available enterprise-class IT services in mixed IT environments with improved performance and reduced risk.

          SUSE builds and supports the SUSE images available for Compute Engine. SUSE images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use.

          To view a list of frequently asked questions when running SLES on Compute Engine, see SUSE Linux Enterprise Server FAQ .

          Automatic updates

          This operating system is not configured to install updates by default. For more information about configuring automatic updates for SLES, see SUSE documentation .
          Image configuration

          SLES and SLES for SAP images are built and maintained by SUSE. SLES images are built with the latest SLES packages reflected in their release.

          The SUSE images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard SUSE images:

          Account configuration

          • There are no local users configured with passwords.

          Network configuration

          • IPv6 is enabled.
          • The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
          • SLES does not use predictive network interface naming. In the grub kernel command-line arguments, net.ifnames=0 is set. Therefore, network interfaces use the traditional ethN naming, with the default interface always being eth0 .
          • VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than 1460 . For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

          Package system and repository configuration

          • The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the packages that are supplied by SUSE .
          • SLES instances register with a SUSE run SMT service for Compute Engine and are configured to use SUSE regional mirrors in Compute Engine.

          Storage configuration

          • Images are 10 GB by default.
          • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI . There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
          • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

          Time configuration

          • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

          General information

          OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
          SLES 15 SP6
          		 suse-cloud sles-15 sles-15-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4 GA TBD
          SLES 15 SP5
          		 suse-byos-cloud N/A N/A All except A4X, A4, G4 BYOS w/ LTSS Dec 2027
          SLES 15 SP4
          		 suse-byos-cloud N/A N/A All except A4X, A4, G4 BYOS w/ LTSS Dec 2026
          SLES 15 SP3
          		 suse-byos-cloud N/A N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, X4, Z3-metal BYOS w/ LTSS Dec 2025
          SLES 15 SP2
          		 suse-byos-cloud N/A N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal,C3-metal, X4, Z3-metal BYOS w/ LTSS Dec 2024
          SLES 15 SP1
          		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS Jan 2024
          SLES 12 SP5
          		 suse-cloud sles-12 N/A All except T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, G4, G2, X4, Z3-metal EOL Oct 2024
          SLES 12 SP4
          		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS June 2023
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp7-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A GA Jul 2031
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp6-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A GA Dec 2028
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp5-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A GA Dec 2027
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp4-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A GA Dec 2026
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp3-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, X4, Z3-metal GA Dec 2025
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-15-sp2-sap N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, X4, Z3-metal GA Dec 2024
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS Jan 2024
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          		 suse-sap-cloud sles-12-sp5-sap N/A All except T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, A4X, A4, G4, G2, X4, Z3-metal GA Oct 2027
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
          		 N/A N/A N/A N/A EOS June 2023

          * BYOS with LTSS : Support for this operating system is only offered through the Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) that is available when using BYOS licenses from SUSE.

          † ESPOS : Extended Service Pack Overlay Support images are set to deprecated 6 months before their EOS date. Deprecated images are still available for use.

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          SLES 15 SP6
          SLES 15 SP5
          SLES 15 SP4
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          SLES 15 SP1
          SLES 12 SP5
          SLES 12 SP4
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
          SLES 15 SP6
          		 * †
          SLES 15 SP5
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP4
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          SLES 15 SP1
          SLES 12 SP5
          SLES 12 SP4
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP

          * This OS image doesn't support Secure Boot on ARM64.
          † Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          SLES 15 SP6
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP5
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP4
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP3
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP2
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP1
          		 *
          SLES 12 SP5
          		 *
          SLES 12 SP4
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          		 *
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
          		 *

          * This OS image doesn't support custom hostnames. For more information see Custom Hostnames .

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          SLES 15 SP6
          SLES 15 SP5
          SLES 15 SP4
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          		 * †
          SLES 15 SP1
          		 †
          SLES 12 SP5
          SLES 12 SP4
          		 †
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          		 * †
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          		 †
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
          		 †

          * You can update the gVNIC driver to the latest version to enable network egress bandwidths of 200 Gbps. For more information, see the Requirements and limitations section of "Configure per VM Tier_1 networking performance".

          † Fully supported with VirtIO, but requires an updated driver to use with gVNIC. For more information, see Jumbo frames .

          # Only available with certain machine series.

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          SLES 15 SP6
          SLES 15 SP5
          SLES 15 SP4
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          SLES 15 SP1
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          SLES 12 SP5
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          SLES 12 SP4
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          SLES 15 SP6
          SLES 15 SP5
          SLES 15 SP4
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          SLES 15 SP1
          SLES 12 SP5
          SLES 12 SP4
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
          SLES 15 SP6
          SLES 15 SP5
          SLES 15 SP4
          SLES 15 SP3
          SLES 15 SP2
          SLES 15 SP1
          SLES 12 SP5
          SLES 12 SP4
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP

          License

          OS version
          License type
          License URL
          SLES 15 SP6
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP5
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP4
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP3
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP2
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP1
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-15-byos
          SLES 12 SP5
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-cloud/global/licenses/sles-12
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-12-byos
          SLES 12 SP4
          • EOS
          • N/A
          SLES 15 SP7 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP6 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP5 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP4 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP3 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP2 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 15 SP1 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-15-byos
          SLES 12 SP5 for SAP
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOS
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-sap-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-12
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/suse-byos-cloud/global/licenses/sles-sap-12-byos
          SLES 12 SP4 for SAP
          • EOS
          • N/A

          * BYOS with LTSS : Support for this operating system is only offered through the Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) that is available when using BYOS licenses from SUSE.

          Ubuntu LTS

          Ubuntu is a free operating system developed and supported by Canonical .

          Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) images receive bug fixes and security updates for five years after their release date. LTS images can run on your instances for several years without having to upgrade to a newer release.

          Ubuntu Minimal images are supported the same as Ubuntu LTS images.

          Regular (non LTS) Ubuntu images are supported for 9 months from their release date. To continue to use a regular Ubuntu image, you will have to upgrade to the next regular Ubuntu release or LTS release after the support cycle ends to receive fixes and updates. Compute Engine recommends using Ubuntu LTS images unless you require features or software packages that are not yet included in an LTS release. If your instances run Ubuntu releases that are no longer supported, upgrade to a supported Ubuntu release .

          Automatic updates

          By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

          • The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
          • The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
          • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
          Image configuration

          Ubuntu images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

          The Ubuntu images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

          Account configuration

          • There are no local users configured with passwords.

          Bootloader configuration

          • Ubuntu uses cloud-init to do some boot time initialization. The cloud.cfg file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the cloud-init modules that are used.
          • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .
          • To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

          Network configuration

          • IPv6 is enabled.
          • The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
          • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.

          Package system and repository configuration

          • The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages .
          • For Ubuntu 18.04+, the Google Cloud CLI is installed and maintained as a snap package.
          • The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via cloud-init .
          • The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic .
          • The linux-image-gcp kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

          Storage configuration

          • Images are 10 GB by default.
          • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI . There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
          • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

          Time configuration

          • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

          General information

          For information about non LTS Ubuntu releases, see the Ubuntu release wiki .

          OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-cloud ubuntu-2404-lts-amd64 ubuntu-2404-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, A3 Ultra GA June 2029 (ESM April 2034)
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		ubuntu-os-accelerator-images ubuntu-accelerator-2404-amd64-with-nvidia-570 ubuntu-accelerator-2404-arm64-with-nvidia-570 A4X, A4, A3 Ultra GA June 2029 (ESM April 2034)
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		ubuntu-os-accelerator-images ubuntu-accelerator-2404-amd64-with-nvidia-550 ubuntu-accelerator-2404-arm64-with-nvidia-550 A3 Ultra GA June 2025
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-cloud ubuntu-2204-lts ubuntu-2204-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra GA April 2027 (ESM April 2032)
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		ubuntu-os-accelerator-images ubuntu-accelerator-2204-amd64-with-nvidia-570 ubuntu-accelerator-2204-arm64-with-nvidia-570 A4X, A4, A3 Ultra GA April 2027 (ESM April 2032)
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		ubuntu-os-accelerator-images ubuntu-accelerator-2204-amd64-with-nvidia-550 ubuntu-accelerator-2204-arm64-with-nvidia-550 A3 Ultra GA June 2025
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-cloud ubuntu-2004-lts ubuntu-2004-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, A3 Ultra GA May 2025 (ESM May 2030)
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS Ubuntu ESM * / Ubuntu Pro † May 2023 (ESM April 2028)
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS Ubuntu ESM * / Ubuntu Pro † April 2021 (ESM April 2026)
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS April 2024

          * Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.
          † Ubuntu Pro: To continue using Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS images, upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro .

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          		†
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          		†
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

          * Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		*
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		*
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		*
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		*
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          		 *
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          		 *
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
          		 *

          * This OS image doesn't support custom hostnames. For more information, see Custom Hostnames .

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          		 * †
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
          		 †

          * You can update the gVNIC driver to the latest version to enable network egress bandwidths of 200 Gbps. For more information, see the Requirements and limitations section of "Configure per VM Tier_1 networking performance".
          † Fully supported with VirtIO, but requires an updated driver to use with gVNIC. For more information, see Jumbo frames .
          # Only available with certain machine series.

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          The Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 LTS Accelerated OS images are optimized for supporting your artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) workloads. To learn more about how these images are optimized for these workloads, see Accelerator OS images in the AI Hypercomputer documentation.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

          License

          OS version License type License URL
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2404-lts
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2404-lts
          Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2404-lts
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2204-lts
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 570
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2204-lts
          Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Accelerated with NVIDIA driver version 550
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2204-lts
          Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
          		Free https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-2004-lts
          Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
          		 Ubuntu ESM * / Ubuntu Pro † EOS
          Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
          		 Ubuntu ESM * / Ubuntu Pro † EOS
          Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
          		 Ubuntu ESM * EOS

          * Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.
          † Ubuntu Pro: To continue using Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 LTS images, you must upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro .

          Ubuntu Pro

          Ubuntu Pro is a premium operating system developed and supported by Canonical .

          Ubuntu Pro images running on Compute Engine receive bug fixes and security updates for 10 years after their release date, along with access to Ubuntu ESM . For Ubuntu 16.04, security updates and ESM are available for 8 years.

          Ubuntu Pro images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. For information about Ubuntu Pro license cost, see the Ubuntu Pro pricing page. An Ubuntu Pro image running on Compute Engine has an on-demand license and does not require an additional Ubuntu Pro subscription.

          To view a list of frequently asked questions when running Ubuntu Pro on Compute Engine, see Ubuntu Pro FAQ .

          Automatic updates

          By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

          • The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
          • The AutomaticSecurityUpdates tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
          • Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.
          Image configuration

          Ubuntu Pro images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu Pro images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

          The Ubuntu Pro images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

          Account configuration

          • There are no local users configured with passwords.

          Bootloader configuration

          • Ubuntu uses cloud-init to do some boot time initialization. The cloud.cfg file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the cloud-init modules that are used.
          • To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0 .
          • To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, scsi_mod.use_blk_mq is enabled.

          Network configuration

          • IPv6 is enabled.
          • The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
          • To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules is removed.

          Package system and repository configuration

          • The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages .
          • The Google Cloud CLI is installed and maintained as a snap package.
          • The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via cloud-init .
          • The Unattended-upgrades package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02periodic .
          • The linux-image-gcp kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

          Storage configuration

          • Images are 10 GB by default.
          • The partition table is GPT , and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI . There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
          • Ubuntu uses cloud-init to do some boot time initialization. The cloud.cfg file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the cloud-init modules that are used.
          • There are no local users configured with passwords.
          • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
          • The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

          Time configuration

          • The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

          General information

          For information about upgrading from Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro, see Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro .

          OS version Image project x86 image family Arm image family Machine series Lifecycle stage EOS and image deprecation date
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-pro-cloud ubuntu-pro-2404-lts-amd64 ubuntu-pro-2404-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4 GA April 2034
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-pro-cloud ubuntu-pro-2204-lts ubuntu-pro-2204-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4 GA April 2032
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-pro-cloud ubuntu-pro-2004-lts ubuntu-pro-2004-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4 GA April 2030
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-pro-cloud ubuntu-pro-1804-lts ubuntu-pro-1804-lts-arm64 All except A4X, A4, G4, C4-metal, C4A, C3-metal, C4D-metal, X4, Z3-metal GA April 2028
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
          		ubuntu-os-pro-cloud ubuntu-pro-1604-lts N/A All except A4X, A4, G4, T2A, C4A, C3-metal, C4-metal, C4D-metal, X4, Z3-metal GA April 2026

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
          		*

          * This OS image supports NVMe but doesn't support the hot-plugging of NVMe drives. Hot-plugging is the process of adding or removing a device while the system is running.

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM SEV Confidential VM SEV-SNP Confidential VM Intel TDX
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          		†
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          		†
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

          * Intel TDX isn't supported on ARM64 for this OS image.

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          		*
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
          		*

          * This OS image doesn't support custom hostnames. For more information, see Custom Hostnames .

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
          		* †

          * You can update the gVNIC driver to the latest version to enable network egress bandwidths of 200 Gbps. For more information, see the Requirements and limitations section of "Configure per VM Tier_1 networking performance".
          † Fully supported with VirtIO, but requires an updated driver to use with gVNIC. For more information, see Jumbo frames .
          # Only available with certain machine series.

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance Import machine image
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

          License

          OS version License type License URL
          Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS
          		On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-pro-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-pro-2404-lts
          Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS
          		On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-pro-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-pro-2204-lts
          Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS
          		On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-pro-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-pro-2004-lts
          Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS
          		On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-pro-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-pro-1804-lts
          Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
          		On-demand https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/ubuntu-os-pro-cloud/global/licenses/ubuntu-pro-1604-lts

          Windows client

          Google doesn't provide Windows client images. You must bring your own Windows client images.

          Windows client images can't be used with bare metal instances. Also, Windows client images aren't supported for C4A machine series and T2A machine series VMs.

          Automatic updates

          The Windows client update settings determine how versions of Windows client use Windows Updates. To configure Windows automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates .
          Storage

          Google doesn't test the VSS agent on any client images.

          General information

          OS version Lifecycle stage * EOS date
          Windows 11 23h2 x64 **
          		GA Nov 2026
          Windows 11 22h2 x64 **
          		GA Oct 2025
          Windows 11 21h2 x64 **
          		EOS Oct 2024
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          		 GA Oct 2025
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          		 GA Oct 2025
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          		 EOS June 2024
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          		 EOS June 2024
          Windows 8.1 x64
          		 EOS Jan 2023
          Windows 8.1 x86
          		 EOS Jan 2023

          * Lifecycle stage : Google Cloud Support typically coincides with Extended Support End Date. For information about the end of support (EOS) date for each of the operating systems in the table below, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy .

          ** Windows 11 : vTPM and Secure Boot must be enabled. Due to CPU requirements, N1 and M1 sole-tenant node types are not recommended.

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          Windows 8.1 x64
          Windows 8.1 x86

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM support
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          		 **
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          		 **
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          		 **
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          Windows 8.1 x64
          Windows 8.1 x86

          ** Windows 11 : vTPM and Secure Boot must be enabled. Due to CPU requirements, N1 and M1 sole-tenant node types are not recommended.

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          		 * † ‡
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          		 * † ‡
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          		 * † ‡
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          		 * † ‡
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          		 * †
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          		 * † ‡
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          		 * †
          Windows 8.1 x64
          		 †
          Windows 8.1 x86
          		 †

          * Guest environment : For this OS, the guest environment can be manually installed. To install the guest environment, see Install the guest environment .

          † gcloud CLI : For this OS, the gcloud CLI can be manually installed. To install the gcloud CLI, see Install the gcloud CLI .

          ‡ Suspend and resume : For this OS, some power policy configurations are incompatible with suspend and resume. For more information, see troubleshooting VM suspension .

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          		 * * †
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          		 * * †
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          		 * * †
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          		 * * †
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          		 * †
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          		 * * †
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          		 * †
          Windows 8.1 x64
          		 †
          Windows 8.1 x86
          		 †

          * The gVNIC driver available in this OS image provides up to 50 Gbps of network bandwidth. To get up to 200 Gbps of network bandwidth, you must use an updated version of the gVNIC driver. For more information, see Update to the latest gVNIC driver for Windows .

          † To use Jumbo Frames with gVNIC on Windows, you can use an updated version of the gVNIC driver. For more information, see Update to the latest gVNIC driver for Windows .

          # Only available with supported machine series .

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Windows 8.1 x64
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS
          Windows 8.1 x86
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

          * For this Windows client version, NVIDIA V100 GPUs are not supported.

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          Windows 8.1 x64
          Windows 8.1 x86

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          Windows 8.1 x64
          Windows 8.1 x86

          License

          OS version License type License URL
          Windows 11 23h2 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-11-x64-byol
          Windows 11 22h2 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-11-x64-byol
          Windows 11 21h2 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-11-x64-byol
          Windows 10 22h2 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-10-x64-byol
          Windows 10 22h2 x86
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-10-x86-byol
          Windows 10 21h2 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-10-x64-byol
          Windows 10 21h2 x86
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-10-x86-byol
          Windows 8.1 x64
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-8-x64-byol
          Windows 8.1 x86
          		 BYOL https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-8-x86-byol

          Windows Server

          Windows Server images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. Google Cloud builds and supports the Windows Server images available for Compute Engine.

          Windows server images can't be used with bare metal instances.

          To bring your own Windows license (BYOL), you must either import an existing image, or you must build a custom image .

          Automatic updates

          By default, this operating system is configured to "Auto download and schedule the install" for Microsoft updates. To configure Windows Server automatic updates, see Configure Automatic Updates .
          Image configuration

          Windows Server images are built with the latest updates, but have the following differences in configuration from standard Windows Server images:

          Account configuration

          • The Administrator account is disabled.
          • User passwords must be at least eight characters long.
          • The LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy property is enabled to grant access to administrative file shares.

          Activation configuration

          • Windows Server images can't activate without a network connection to kms.windows.googlecloud.com , and stop functioning if they don't authenticate within 30 days. Make sure to [allow access in your VPC network](/compute/docs/instances/windows/creating-managing-windows-instances#kms-server).
          • A KMS client key is installed and the KMS client is set to activate by using the Compute Engine KMS servers.

          Bootloader configuration

          • BootStatusPolicy is set to IgnoreAllFailures .
          • Emergency Management Services (EMS) redirection is enabled on the COM2 port. For more information, see bootcfg ems .

          Network configuration

          • The Compute Engine metadata server is added to the hosts file, which is typically in the %WinDir%\System32\drivers\etc directory.
          • The Windows firewall is open to allow communication with the Compute Engine metadata server.
          • TCP KeepAliveTime is set to 5 minutes.
          • Web Proxy Auto Discovery (WPAD) is disabled.
          • The NetKVM adapter is set to use DHCP.
          • Remote Desktop (RDP) is enabled and the associated Windows firewall ports opened.
          • WinRM over HTTPS is configured using a self signed certificate and the associated Windows firewall ports are open.
          • Windows images provided by Google have a hardcoded MTU. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview .

          Package system and Windows Update

          • Windows Server images update automatically according to the default update schedule for Windows Server.
          • To install packages for the guest environment , Google Cloud repositories are enabled.
          • To manage Compute Engine component packages for Windows, GooGet is installed, which you can configure to update packages automatically.
          • The Google Cloud CLI is installed with its own Python 2.7 environment. Google Cloud CLI works with project service accounts, instance scopes, and works in PowerShell and the standard command-line environment.
          • To boot Windows on Compute Engine, Compute Engine drivers are installed.
          • PowerShell v5 and v7 are installed.

          Power configuration

          • Power settings are changed to never turn off the monitor.

          Storage configuration

          • The partition table is GPT, and there is an EFI partition to support booting on UEFI.
          • The paging file is set to a static size of 1 GB.
          • The EnableQueryAccessAlignment property is enabled for the VioSCSI driver.

          Time configuration

          • The RealTimeIsUniversal registry key is set. The BIOS is a UTC clock, and is not set to the local time.
          • The time zone is set to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).
          • NTP is set to sync to the Compute Engine metadata server.

          General information

          OS version Image project Image family Machine series Lifecycle stage * EOS and image deprecation date
          Windows Server 2025
          		 windows-cloud windows-2025
          windows-2025-core           		All except T2A, C4A, C4D-metal, C4-metal, C3-metal, Z3, A4X, A4, G4, A3, X4 GA Oct 10, 2034
          Windows Server 2022
          		 windows-cloud windows-2022
          windows-2022-core           		All except T2A, C4A, C4-metal, C4D-metal, C3-metal, Z3, A4, G4, A3, X4 GA Oct 14, 2031
          Windows Server 2019
          		 windows-cloud windows-2019
          windows-2019-core           		All except T2A, C4A, C4-metal, C4D-metal, C3-metal, Z3, A4, G4, A3, X4 GA Jan 9, 2029
          Windows Server 2016
          		 windows-cloud windows-2016
          windows-2016-core           		All except T2A, C4A, C4-metal, C4D-metal, C3-metal, Z3, A4, A3, G4, G2, X4 GA Jan 12, 2027
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          		 N/A N/A Only C2, C2D, E2, M1, M2, N1, N2, N2D EOS Oct 10, 2023
          Windows Server 2012
          		 N/A N/A Only C2, C2D, E2, M1, M2, N1, N2, N2D EOS Oct 10, 2023

          * Lifecycle stage : Google Cloud Support typically coincides with Extended Support End Date. For information about the end of support (EOS) date for each of the operating systems in the previous table, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy .

          Interfaces

          OS version SCSI NVMe VSS agent Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC) IDPF Multiple network interfaces
          Windows Server 2025
          Windows Server 2022
          Windows Server 2019
          Windows Server 2016
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012

          Security features

          OS version Shielded VM Confidential VM support
          Windows Server 2025
          Windows Server 2022
          Windows Server 2019
          Windows Server 2016
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012

          User space features

          OS version Guest environment installed gcloud CLI installed OS Login supported Suspend and resume supported
          Windows Server 2025
          		 †
          Windows Server 2022
          		 *
          Windows Server 2019
          		 *
          Windows Server 2016
          		 *
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012

          * For this OS, some power policy configurations are incompatible with suspend and resume. For more information, see troubleshooting VM suspension .

          † Not currently supported due to a known issue .

          Networking features

          OS version Tier_1 networking # 200 Gbps network bandwidth # Jumbo frames/MTU
          Windows Server 2025
          		 * * †
          Windows Server 2022
          		 * * †
          Windows Server 2019
          		 * * †
          Windows Server 2016
          		 * * †
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          		 * * †
          Windows Server 2012

          * The gVNIC driver available in this OS image provides up to 50 Gbps of network bandwidth. To get up to 200 Gbps of network bandwidth, you must use an updated version of the gVNIC driver. For more information, see Update to the latest gVNIC driver for Windows .

          † To use Jumbo Frames with gVNIC on Windows, you can use an updated version of the gVNIC driver. For more information, see Update to the latest gVNIC driver for Windows .

          # Only available with supported machine series .

          GPU support

          N1+GPU denotes support for NVIDIA T4, V100, P100, or P4 GPUs running on a general-purpose N1 machine family.

          For more information about GPU requirements and recommended OSes, see choosing an OS for instances with attached GPUs .

          OS version A4X (GB200) A4 (B200) A3 (H200) A3 (H100) A2 (A100) G4 (RTX PRO 6000) G2 (L4) N1+GPU
          Windows Server 2025
          Windows Server 2022
          Windows Server 2019
          Windows Server 2016
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012
          		 EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS EOS

          * For this Windows client version, NVIDIA V100 GPUs are not supported.

          VM Manager

          OS version OS Config agent preinstalled OS inventory OS policies Patch Vulnerability reports
          Windows Server 2025
          Windows Server 2022
          Windows Server 2019
          Windows Server 2016
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012

          Import

          For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems .

          OS version Import disk Import virtual appliance
          Windows Server 2025
          Windows Server 2022
          Windows Server 2019
          Windows Server 2016
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          Windows Server 2012

          * Self-import is available.

          License

          OS version
          License type
          License URL
          Windows Server 2025
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2025-dc
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2025-byol
          Windows Server 2022
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2022-dc
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2022-byol
          Windows Server 2019
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2019-dc
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2019-byol
          Windows Server 2016
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2016-dc
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2016-byol
          Windows Server 2012 R2
          • On-demand (Default)
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2012-r2-dc
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2012-r2-byol
          Windows Server 2012
          • BYOL
          • https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/windows-cloud/global/licenses/windows-server-2012-byol
          Create a Mobile Website
          View Site in Mobile | Classic
          Share by: