---
title: "Create an image from a snapshot"
description: "Turn an existing snapshot into a saved image from the snapshot's own menu."
content_type: "how-to"
product: "node"
platform: "MyAccount"
url: "/myaccount/node/how-to/create-an-image-from-a-snapshot/"
topic: ["images-and-snapshots"]
relationships: {"requires":["/myaccount/node/how-to/create-a-snapshot/"]}
---

# Create an image from a snapshot

Once you have a snapshot of a node, you can turn that exact point into a reusable image. It is a
template for launching new nodes. Building it from a snapshot, rather than the node's current
state, keeps the copy tied to that saved point. Reach for this path once the node has kept
running and changed since you took the snapshot.

## Create the image

Open the node's **Snapshots** tab and find the snapshot you want to turn into an image. Choose
**Save as Image** from its menu, and the image starts building from that snapshot. Once it is
ready, it appears on the **Saved Images** page, the same place an image
saved directly from the node ends up, and reads **Ready** in its **State** column when you can
use it. From its **Actions** menu, **Create Node** launches a new node from it. See
[Saved Images](/myaccount/images) to manage or export it from there.

## Keeping the snapshot around until then

Lock the snapshot first if you want to be sure it is still there when you come back to it. Once
locked, a snapshot stays until you take the lock off; neither a manual delete nor a lifecycle rule
removes it. Deleting the node does, so save the image before you delete the node. A lifecycle
rule clears out old backups or snapshots automatically after a set time.

If the image does not build, or will not launch a node, see
[Troubleshooting image import and export](/myaccount/node/troubleshooting/image-import-export/).