Reboot or reset a Compute Engine instance


This document explains how to reboot or reset a Compute Engine instance. To learn more about the effects of resetting an instance, as well as the differences between suspending, stopping, or resetting an instance, see Suspend, stop, or reset Compute Engine instances .

Rebooting or resetting an instance can help ensure optimal performance and stability, or help resolve issues like a frozen, slow, or crashing guest operating system (OS). Based on the state of the guest OS of your instance, do one of the following:

  • Reboot the instance. If your guest OS is slow or frozen, then rebooting gives it enough time to finish running tasks before shutting down.

  • Reset the instance. Reset an instance only if the guest OS has crashed or is unresponsive, and you have no other options. Resetting an instance doesn't allow the guest OS to cleanly shut down. This action can discard unsaved data and might corrupt the file systems of any disks.

Before you begin

  • If you haven't already, set up authentication . Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:

    Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

    Console

    When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

    gcloud

    1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:

      gcloud  
      init

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    2. Set a default region and zone .

    Go

    To use the Go samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

      If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

      gcloud  
      auth  
      application-default  
      login

      You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

      If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment .

    Java

    To use the Java samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

      If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

      gcloud  
      auth  
      application-default  
      login

      You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

      If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment .

    Node.js

    To use the Node.js samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

      If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

      gcloud  
      auth  
      application-default  
      login

      You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

      If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment .

    PHP

    To use the PHP samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

      If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

      gcloud  
      auth  
      application-default  
      login

      You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

      If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment .

    Python

    To use the Python samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

      If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

      gcloud  
      auth  
      application-default  
      login

      You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

      If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment .

    REST

    To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI.

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

    For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to reset or reboot a compute instance, ask your administrator to grant you the Compute Instance Admin (v1) ( roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1 ) IAM role on the instance. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations .

This predefined role contains the permissions required to reset or reboot a compute instance. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissionssection:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to reset or reboot a compute instance:

  • To reset an instance: compute.instances.reset
  • To reboot an instance from within its guest OS: compute.instances.setMetadata

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles .

Reboot an instance

Rebooting a compute instance allows the guest OS in the instance to finish running tasks before Compute Engine sends the ACPI shutdown signal. This helps to ensure a clean shutdown of the guest OS.

Rebooting an instance erases the memory used by the instance. If you're using RAM disks with your instances, and you need to preserve that data, then back up the data before rebooting the instance.

To reboot an instance, select one of the following options:

Linux

  1. If you haven't already, then connect to the instance .

  2. To reboot the instance, run the following command:

     sudo reboot 
    

Windows

  1. If you haven't already, then connect to the instance using one of the following methods:

  2. To reboot the instance, run the following command:

     shutdown /r /t 0 
    
  3. Optional: To monitor the process of shutting down and restarting the instance, enable the Windows Boot Manager menu .

Reset an instance

Resetting an instance erases all data in the memory of the instance, including any temporary files stored on RAM disks. This data is permanently lost and Compute Engine doesn't create backups before resetting the instance.

You can reset multiple instances simultaneously or individual instances. For multiple instances, use the Google Cloud console or, for instances located in the same zone, the Google Cloud CLI. For individual instances, select any of the following options:

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instancespage.

    Go to VM instances

  2. Select the instances to reset.

  3. Click Reset, and then click Resetto confirm.

gcloud

To reset one or more running instances in a single zone, use the gcloud compute instances reset command :

 gcloud compute instances reset INSTANCE_NAMES 
\
    --zone= ZONE 
 

Replace the following:

  • INSTANCE_NAMES : a whitespace-separated list of names of instances—for example, instance-01 instance-02 instance-03 .

  • ZONE : the zone where the instances are located.

Go

  import 
  
 ( 
  
 "context" 
  
 "fmt" 
  
 "io" 
  
 compute 
  
 "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1" 
  
 computepb 
  
 "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb" 
 ) 
 // resetInstance resets a running Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks). 
 func 
  
 resetInstance 
 ( 
 w 
  
 io 
 . 
 Writer 
 , 
  
 projectID 
 , 
  
 zone 
 , 
  
 instanceName 
  
 string 
 ) 
  
 error 
  
 { 
  
 // projectID := "your_project_id" 
  
 // zone := "europe-central2-b" 
  
 // instanceName := "your_instance_name" 
  
 ctx 
  
 := 
  
 context 
 . 
 Background 
 () 
  
 instancesClient 
 , 
  
 err 
  
 := 
  
 compute 
 . 
  NewInstancesRESTClient 
 
 ( 
 ctx 
 ) 
  
 if 
  
 err 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Errorf 
 ( 
 "NewInstancesRESTClient: %w" 
 , 
  
 err 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 defer 
  
 instancesClient 
 . 
 Close 
 () 
  
 req 
  
 := 
  
& computepb 
 . 
 ResetInstanceRequest 
 { 
  
 Project 
 : 
  
 projectID 
 , 
  
 Zone 
 : 
  
 zone 
 , 
  
 Instance 
 : 
  
 instanceName 
 , 
  
 } 
  
 op 
 , 
  
 err 
  
 := 
  
 instancesClient 
 . 
 Reset 
 ( 
 ctx 
 , 
  
 req 
 ) 
  
 if 
  
 err 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Errorf 
 ( 
 "unable to reset instance: %w" 
 , 
  
 err 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 if 
  
 err 
  
 = 
  
 op 
 . 
 Wait 
 ( 
 ctx 
 ); 
  
 err 
  
 != 
  
 nil 
  
 { 
  
 return 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Errorf 
 ( 
 "unable to wait for the operation: %w" 
 , 
  
 err 
 ) 
  
 } 
  
 fmt 
 . 
 Fprintf 
 ( 
 w 
 , 
  
 "Instance reset\n" 
 ) 
  
 return 
  
 nil 
 } 
 

Java

  import 
  
 com.google.api.gax.longrunning. OperationFuture 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.compute.v1. InstancesClient 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.compute.v1. Operation 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.compute.v1. Operation 
. Status 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.compute.v1. ResetInstanceRequest 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.io.IOException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException 
 ; 
 public 
  
 class 
 ResetInstance 
  
 { 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 main 
 ( 
 String 
 [] 
  
 args 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
 , 
  
 ExecutionException 
 , 
  
 InterruptedException 
 , 
  
 TimeoutException 
  
 { 
  
 // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample. 
  
 /* project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to. 
 zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to. 
 instanceName: name of the instance your want to reset. 
 */ 
  
 String 
  
 project 
  
 = 
  
 "your-project-id" 
 ; 
  
 String 
  
 zone 
  
 = 
  
 "zone-name" 
 ; 
  
 String 
  
 instanceName 
  
 = 
  
 "instance-name" 
 ; 
  
 resetInstance 
 ( 
 project 
 , 
  
 zone 
 , 
  
 instanceName 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 // Resets a running Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks). 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 resetInstance 
 ( 
 String 
  
 project 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 zone 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 instanceName 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
 , 
  
 ExecutionException 
 , 
  
 InterruptedException 
 , 
  
 TimeoutException 
  
 { 
  
 /* Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created 
 once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call 
 the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely 
 clean up any remaining background resources. */ 
  
 try 
  
 ( 
  InstancesClient 
 
  
 instancesClient 
  
 = 
  
  InstancesClient 
 
 . 
 create 
 ()) 
  
 { 
  
  ResetInstanceRequest 
 
  
 resetInstanceRequest 
  
 = 
  
  ResetInstanceRequest 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setProject 
 ( 
 project 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setZone 
 ( 
 zone 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setInstance 
 ( 
 instanceName 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 OperationFuture<Operation 
 , 
  
 Operation 
>  
 operation 
  
 = 
  
 instancesClient 
 . 
  resetAsync 
 
 ( 
  
 resetInstanceRequest 
 ); 
  
  Operation 
 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 operation 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 TimeUnit 
 . 
 MINUTES 
 ); 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 response 
 . 
  getStatus 
 
 () 
  
 == 
  
  Status 
 
 . 
 DONE 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 println 
 ( 
 "Instance reset successfully ! " 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 } 
 } 
 

Node.js

  /** 
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment and replace these variables before running the sample. 
 */ 
 // const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID'; 
 // const zone = 'europe-central2-b' 
 // const instanceName = 'YOUR_INSTANCE_NAME' 
 const 
  
 compute 
  
 = 
  
 require 
 ( 
 ' @google-cloud/compute 
' 
 ); 
 async 
  
 function 
  
 resetInstance 
 () 
  
 { 
  
 const 
  
 instancesClient 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 compute 
 . 
  InstancesClient 
 
 (); 
  
 const 
  
 [ 
 response 
 ] 
  
 = 
  
 await 
  
 instancesClient 
 . 
 reset 
 ({ 
  
 project 
 : 
  
 projectId 
 , 
  
 zone 
 , 
  
 instance 
 : 
  
 instanceName 
 , 
  
 }); 
  
 let 
  
 operation 
  
 = 
  
 response 
 . 
 latestResponse 
 ; 
  
 const 
  
 operationsClient 
  
 = 
  
 new 
  
 compute 
 . 
  ZoneOperationsClient 
 
 (); 
  
 // Wait for the operation to complete. 
  
 while 
  
 ( 
 operation 
 . 
 status 
  
 !== 
  
 'DONE' 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 [ 
 operation 
 ] 
  
 = 
  
 await 
  
 operationsClient 
 . 
 wait 
 ({ 
  
 operation 
 : 
  
 operation 
 . 
 name 
 , 
  
 project 
 : 
  
 projectId 
 , 
  
 zone 
 : 
  
 operation 
 . 
 zone 
 . 
 split 
 ( 
 '/' 
 ). 
 pop 
 (), 
  
 }); 
  
 } 
  
 console 
 . 
 log 
 ( 
 'Instance reset.' 
 ); 
 } 
 resetInstance 
 (); 
 

PHP

  use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\Client\InstancesClient; 
 use Google\Cloud\Compute\V1\ResetInstanceRequest; 
 /** 
 * Reset a running Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks). 
 * 
 * @param string $projectId Project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to. 
 * @param string $zone Name of the zone your instance belongs to. 
 * @param string $instanceName Name of the instance you want to reset. 
 * 
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ApiException if the remote call fails. 
 * @throws \Google\ApiCore\ValidationException if local error occurs before remote call. 
 */ 
 function reset_instance( 
 string $projectId, 
 string $zone, 
 string $instanceName 
 ) { 
 // Stop the Compute Engine instance using InstancesClient. 
 $instancesClient = new InstancesClient(); 
 $request = (new ResetInstanceRequest()) 
 ->setInstance($instanceName) 
 ->setProject($projectId) 
 ->setZone($zone); 
 $operation = $instancesClient->reset($request); 
 // Wait for the operation to complete. 
 $operation->pollUntilComplete(); 
 if ($operation->operationSucceeded()) { 
 printf('Instance %s reset successfully' . PHP_EOL, $instanceName); 
 } else { 
 $error = $operation->getError(); 
 printf('Failed to reset instance: %s' . PHP_EOL, $error?->getMessage()); 
 } 
 } 
 

Python

  from 
  
 __future__ 
  
 import 
 annotations 
 import 
  
 sys 
 from 
  
 typing 
  
 import 
 Any 
 from 
  
 google.api_core.extended_operation 
  
 import 
 ExtendedOperation 
 from 
  
 google.cloud 
  
 import 
  compute_v1 
 
 def 
  
 wait_for_extended_operation 
 ( 
 operation 
 : 
 ExtendedOperation 
 , 
 verbose_name 
 : 
 str 
 = 
 "operation" 
 , 
 timeout 
 : 
 int 
 = 
 300 
 ) 
 - 
> Any 
 : 
  
 """ 
 Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete. 
 If the operation is successful, it will return its result. 
 If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised. 
 If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation 
 they will be printed to sys.stderr. 
 Args: 
 operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on. 
 verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation, 
 used only during error and warning reporting. 
 timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish. 
 If None, wait indefinitely. 
 Returns: 
 Whatever the operation.result() returns. 
 Raises: 
 This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()` 
 or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code` 
 set for the `operation`. 
 In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete, 
 a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised. 
 """ 
 result 
 = 
 operation 
 . 
 result 
 ( 
 timeout 
 = 
 timeout 
 ) 
 if 
 operation 
 . 
 error_code 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "Error during 
 { 
 verbose_name 
 } 
 : [Code: 
 { 
 operation 
 . 
 error_code 
 } 
 ]: 
 { 
 operation 
 . 
 error_message 
 } 
 " 
 , 
 file 
 = 
 sys 
 . 
 stderr 
 , 
 flush 
 = 
 True 
 , 
 ) 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "Operation ID: 
 { 
 operation 
 . 
 name 
 } 
 " 
 , 
 file 
 = 
 sys 
 . 
 stderr 
 , 
 flush 
 = 
 True 
 ) 
 raise 
 operation 
 . 
 exception 
 () 
 or 
 RuntimeError 
 ( 
 operation 
 . 
 error_message 
 ) 
 if 
 operation 
 . 
 warnings 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "Warnings during 
 { 
 verbose_name 
 } 
 : 
 \n 
 " 
 , 
 file 
 = 
 sys 
 . 
 stderr 
 , 
 flush 
 = 
 True 
 ) 
 for 
 warning 
 in 
 operation 
 . 
 warnings 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 " - 
 { 
 warning 
 . 
 code 
 } 
 : 
 { 
 warning 
 . 
 message 
 } 
 " 
 , 
 file 
 = 
 sys 
 . 
 stderr 
 , 
 flush 
 = 
 True 
 ) 
 return 
 result 
 def 
  
 reset_instance 
 ( 
 project_id 
 : 
 str 
 , 
 zone 
 : 
 str 
 , 
 instance_name 
 : 
 str 
 ) 
 - 
> None 
 : 
  
 """ 
 Resets a stopped Google Compute Engine instance (with unencrypted disks). 
 Args: 
 project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project your instance belongs to. 
 zone: name of the zone your instance belongs to. 
 instance_name: name of the instance your want to reset. 
 """ 
 instance_client 
 = 
  compute_v1 
 
 . 
  InstancesClient 
 
 () 
 operation 
 = 
 instance_client 
 . 
  reset 
 
 ( 
 project 
 = 
 project_id 
 , 
 zone 
 = 
 zone 
 , 
 instance 
 = 
 instance_name 
 ) 
 wait_for_extended_operation 
 ( 
 operation 
 , 
 "instance reset" 
 ) 
 

REST

To reset a running instance, make a POST request to the instances.reset method :

 POST https://compute.googleapis.com//compute/v1/projects/ PROJECT_ID 
/zones/ ZONE 
/instances/ INSTANCE_NAME 
/reset 

Replace the following:

  • INSTANCE_NAME : the name of the instance.

  • PROJECT_ID : the ID of the project where the instance is located.

  • ZONE : the zone where the instance is located.

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