View the details of a VM

Linux Windows

This document explains how to view the details of an existing virtual machine (VM) instance.

Viewing the details of a VM is useful to see its configuration and status, such as attached disks, creation timestamp, machine type, and the ID of the VM—which you can use to reference the VM using an immutable value.

Before you begin

If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine as follows.

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, then initialize it by running the following command:
```
gcloud init
```
  Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
2. Set a default region and zone.
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.

Required roles

To get the permission that you need to view the details of a VM, ask your administrator to grant you the Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1) IAM role on the VM or project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access.

This predefined role contains the compute.instances.get permission, which is required to view the details of a VM.

You might also be able to get this permission with custom roles or other predefined roles.

View details of a VM

You can view the details of a VM using the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI, and Compute Engine API.

Console

To view the details of a VM, do the following:

In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

Go to VM instances
In the Name column, click on the VM name to view its details.

gcloud

To view the details of a VM, use the gcloud compute instances describe command.

gcloud compute instances describe VM_NAME \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

VM_NAME: the VM name.
ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.

The output is similar to the following:

canIpForward: false
confidentialInstanceConfig:
  enableConfidentialCompute: false
cpuPlatform: Intel Broadwell
creationTimestamp: '2023-08-18T10:00:21.801-07:00'
deletionProtection: false
description: ''
disks:
- architecture: X86_64
  autoDelete: true
  boot: true
  deviceName: example-vm
  diskSizeGb: '10'
  guestOsFeatures:
  - type: UEFI_COMPATIBLE
  - type: VIRTIO_SCSI_MULTIQUEUE
  - type: GVNIC
  - type: SEV_CAPABLE
  index: 0
  interface: SCSI
  kind: compute#attachedDisk
  licenses:
  - https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-11-bullseye
  mode: READ_WRITE
  source: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/disks/example-vm
  type: PERSISTENT
displayDevice:
  enableDisplay: false
fingerprint: CQp-QBEACqw=
id: '6404261768674286922'
keyRevocationActionType: NONE
kind: compute#instance
labelFingerprint: 42WmSpB8rSM=
lastStartTimestamp: '2023-08-18T10:00:28.182-07:00'
machineType: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/machineTypes/e2-medium
metadata:
  fingerprint: lQ-dD2sMrMY=
  items:
  - key: enable-oslogin
    value: 'true'
  kind: compute#metadata
name: example-vm
networkInterfaces:
- accessConfigs:
  - kind: compute#accessConfig
    name: External NAT
    natIP: 34.27.53.198
    networkTier: PREMIUM
    type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT
  fingerprint: QR3z6TgVFjg=
  kind: compute#networkInterface
  name: nic0
  network: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/global/networks/default
  networkIP: 10.128.0.28
  stackType: IPV4_ONLY
  subnetwork: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/regions/us-central1/subnetworks/default
reservationAffinity:
  consumeReservationType: ANY_RESERVATION
scheduling:
  automaticRestart: true
  onHostMaintenance: MIGRATE
  preemptible: false
  provisioningModel: STANDARD
selfLink: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm
serviceAccounts:
- email: 790569220780-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com
  scopes:
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/servicecontrol
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/service.management.readonly
  - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/trace.append
shieldedInstanceConfig:
  enableIntegrityMonitoring: true
  enableSecureBoot: false
  enableVtpm: true
shieldedInstanceIntegrityPolicy:
  updateAutoLearnPolicy: true
startRestricted: false
status: RUNNING
tags:
  fingerprint: 42WmSpB8rSM=
zone: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a

REST

To view the details of a VM, make a GET request to instances.get method.

GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME

Replace the following:

PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project where the VM is located.
ZONE: the zone where the VM is located.
VM_NAME: the VM name.

The output is similar to the following:

{
  "canIpForward": false,
  "confidentialInstanceConfig": {
    "enableConfidentialCompute": false
  },
  "cpuPlatform": "Intel Broadwell",
  "creationTimestamp": "2023-08-18T10:00:21.801-07:00",
  "deletionProtection": false,
  "description": "",
  "disks": [
    {
      "architecture": "X86_64",
      "autoDelete": true,
      "boot": true,
      "deviceName": "example-vm",
      "diskSizeGb": "10",
      "guestOsFeatures": [
        {
          "type": "UEFI_COMPATIBLE"
        },
        {
          "type": "VIRTIO_SCSI_MULTIQUEUE"
        },
        {
          "type": "GVNIC"
        },
        {
          "type": "SEV_CAPABLE"
        }
      ],
      "index": 0,
      "interface": "SCSI",
      "kind": "compute#attachedDisk",
      "licenses": [
        "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/debian-cloud/global/licenses/debian-11-bullseye"
      ],
      "mode": "READ_WRITE",
      "source": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/disks/example-vm",
      "type": "PERSISTENT"
    }
  ],
  "displayDevice": {
    "enableDisplay": false
  },
  "fingerprint": "CQp-QBEACqw=",
  "id": "6404261768674286922",
  "keyRevocationActionType": "NONE",
  "kind": "compute#instance",
  "labelFingerprint": "42WmSpB8rSM=",
  "lastStartTimestamp": "2023-08-18T10:00:28.182-07:00",
  "machineType": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/machineTypes/e2-medium",
  "metadata": {
    "fingerprint": "lQ-dD2sMrMY=",
    "items": [
      {
        "key": "enable-oslogin",
        "value": "true"
      }
    ],
    "kind": "compute#metadata"
  },
  "name": "example-vm",
  "networkInterfaces": [
    {
      "accessConfigs": [
        {
        "kind": "compute#accessConfig",
        "name": "External NAT",
        "natIP": "34.27.53.198",
        "networkTier": "PREMIUM",
        "type": "ONE_TO_ONE_NAT"
        }
      ],
      "fingerprint": "QR3z6TgVFjg=",
      "kind": "compute#networkInterface",
      "name": "nic0",
      "network": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/global/networks/default",
      "networkIP": "10.128.0.28",
      "stackType": "IPV4_ONLY",
      "subnetwork": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/regions/us-central1/subnetworks/default"
    }
  ],
  "reservationAffinity": {
    "consumeReservationType": "ANY_RESERVATION"
  },
  "scheduling": {
    "automaticRestart": true,
    "onHostMaintenance": "MIGRATE",
    "preemptible": false,
    "provisioningModel": "STANDARD"
  },
  "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm",
  "serviceAccounts": [
    {
    "email": "790569220780-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com",
    "scopes": [
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/servicecontrol",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/service.management.readonly",
        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/trace.append"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "shieldedInstanceConfig": {
    "enableIntegrityMonitoring": true,
    "enableSecureBoot": false,
    "enableVtpm": true
  },
  "shieldedInstanceIntegrityPolicy": {
    "updateAutoLearnPolicy": true
  },
  "startRestricted": false,
  "status": "RUNNING",
  "tags": {
    "fingerprint": "42WmSpB8rSM="
  },
  "zone": "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a"
}

What's next

Learn how to rename a VM.
Learn how to stop or start a VM.
Learn how to suspend or resume a VM.
Learn more about the VM life cycle.