Copying VM between projects in GCP

Question

I'm currently using windows VM instance in GCP(project1), i want to create same VM with data in my another project(project2)(project in another gmail account). The project2 have access to my project1 which i had setup IAM role.

So what the next step to copy the instance between the project1 to project2 (without loosing the data)?

Answer 1

You can copy a VM instance from one project to another either using a custom image or using disk.

Method 1: Using Custom image

You have to use the following steps to create a mirror VM in another project:

1. In your source project, create a snapshot of the VM's boot disk, using one of the below command:

   $ gcloud compute snapshots create <SNAPSHOT_NAME> --source-disk <SOURCE_DISK> --source-disk-zone <SOURCE_DISK_ZONE>
   

2. Create a custom image from the snapshot using the following command:

   $ gcloud compute images create <IMAGE_NAME> --source-snapshot=<SOURCE_SNAPSHOT> [--storage-location=<LOCATION>]
   

3. In your destination project, create a VM from the custom image using the following command:

   $ gcloud compute instances create <VM_NAME> --image-project <IMAGE_PROJECT> [--image <IMAGE> | --image-family <IMAGE_FAMILY>]
   

Method 2: Using disk

1. In your source project, create a snapshot of the VM's boot disk, using one of the below command:

   $ gcloud compute snapshots create <SNAPSHOT_NAME> --source-disk <SOURCE_DISK> --source-disk-zone <SOURCE_DISK_ZONE>
   

2. Then create a disk in the destination project with --source-snapshot:

   $ gcloud compute disks create <DISK_NAME> --source-snapshot <SOURCE_SNAPSHOT> --project <destination-project>
   

3. Create a VM based on the new disk from step 2

   $ gcloud compute instances create <VM_NAME> --project <destination-project> --disk name=<DISK_NAME>,boot=yes
   

Refer Copying VMs between projects for information.