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About startup scripts
A startup script is a file that contains commands that run when a virtual
machine (VM) instance boots. Compute Engine provides support for running
startup scripts on Linux VMs and Windows VMs.
The following table contains links to documentation that describes how to use
startup scripts.
| Startup script task |
Best used for |
Link to procedure |
| Pass a startup script directly |
Scripts up to 256 KB |
|
| Pass a startup script from a local file |
Scripts up to 256 KB |
|
| Pass a startup script from Cloud Storage |
Scripts greater than 256 KB |
|
| Access metadata from a startup script |
Passing different values to each VM that uses the same script |
|
| Rerun a startup script |
Running a script without restarting the VM |
|
| View the output from a startup script |
Monitoring the progress of a script |
|
What's next
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-07-02 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-07-02 UTC."],[[["Startup scripts are files containing commands that execute upon the boot of a virtual machine (VM) instance, supported by both Linux and Windows VMs."],["Startup scripts can be passed directly, from a local file, or from Cloud Storage, depending on the script's size, with direct and local files limited to 256 KB, and Cloud Storage for larger scripts."],["You can use startup scripts to pass different values to each VM via metadata."],["You can rerun a startup script without having to restart the VM."],["There is documentation to describe how to monitor the progress of a script when it is running, and also how to add a shutdown script."]]],[]]
