Restore a VM from a snapshot

Restore a TIR Virtual Machine from a snapshot to bring its disk back to how it was when the snapshot was taken, for example after an update or a change that went wrong.

Before you begin

• A snapshot of the VM that is Ready. See Create a VM snapshot.
• The snapshot’s source VM, which must still exist. A snapshot of a deleted VM can still be deleted or used to create a new VM. See Delete a VM snapshot and Create a VM from a snapshot.
• Update permission in the project. See TIR Access Control.
• (Optional) A new snapshot of the disk as it is now, if you want to keep it.

Restore the VM

A restore replaces the VM’s whole disk. Everything written since the snapshot was taken is lost for good, and the VM is offline until the restore finishes. To keep the current disk, take a snapshot of it first, or create a separate VM from the old snapshot instead.

1. Find the snapshot. In the side menu, under Storage, select Snapshots to see every snapshot in the project. Or, under Compute, select Virtual Machines, open the VM, and select its Snapshots tab.
2. In the Actions menu of the snapshot, select Restore.
3. Tick “I understand the current disk will be replaced.” and select Restore.

The VM goes offline briefly: it stops, gets a disk built from the snapshot, and starts again.

Check the restored VM

Watch the VM’s Status in Manage VMs. During the restore it reads Stopping, then Stopped, Starting, and Running. Then connect over SSH to look at the files; see Connect to a VM over SSH.

The VM starts again on its own plan, so the region needs free capacity for it. If the status reads Failed, or the VM fails to return to Running, contact support with the VM name, the snapshot name, and the time you started the restore; see Create a support ticket.

To start a separate VM from the same snapshot instead, see Create a VM from a snapshot. If your files look different from what you expected, see Troubleshooting TIR Snapshots.