Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries useApplication Default Credentialsto authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing theUnifiedCredentialsOptionThe following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file:
[](std::string const& keyfile) {
auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);
is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples
auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(is.rdbuf()), {});
auto options =
google::cloud::Options{}.set<google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption>(
google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));
return google::cloud::vmmigration_v1::VmMigrationClient(
google::cloud::vmmigration_v1::MakeVmMigrationConnection(options));
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis webpage provides documentation for various versions of the vmmigration component, ranging from version 2.11.0 up to the release candidate 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation includes a guide on how to override the default authentication credentials, which are typically Application Default Credentials, for the client libraries when connecting to Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eOverriding default authentication can be accomplished by utilizing the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe example highlights a simple method for loading a service account key file and is intended for demonstration purposes; users are encouraged to review the "Best practices for managing service account keys" for production environments.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eAdditional information regarding the creation of \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects can be found in the "Authentication Components" documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.28.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/latest/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.41.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.40.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.39.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.38.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.37.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.36.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.35.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.34.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.33.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.32.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.31.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.30.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.29.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.28.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.27.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.26.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.25.1/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.24.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.23.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.22.1/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.21.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.20.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.19.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.18.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.17.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.16.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.15.1/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.14.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.13.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.12.0/vmmigration-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/vmmigration/2.11.0/vmmigration-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) to authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing the [UnifiedCredentialsOption](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::vmmigration_v1::VmMigrationClient(\n google::cloud::vmmigration_v1::MakeVmMigrationConnection(options));\n }\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]