Copy snapshot of a managed disk in same subscription or different subscription with PowerShell (Windows)

This script copies a snapshot of a managed disk to same or different subscription. Use this script for the following scenarios:

1. Migrate a snapshot in Premium storage (Premium_LRS) to Standard storage (Standard_LRS or Standard_ZRS) to reduce your cost.
2. Migrate a snapshot from locally redundant storage (Premium_LRS, Standard_LRS) to zone redundant storage (Standard_ZRS) to benefit from the higher reliability of ZRS storage.
3. Move a snapshot to different subscription in the same region for longer retention.

If needed, install the Azure PowerShell module using the instructions found in the Azure PowerShell guide, and then run Connect-AzAccount to create a connection with Azure. Also, you need to have an SSH public key named id_rsa.pub in the .ssh directory of your user profile.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Sample script

#Provide the subscription Id of the subscription where snapshot exists
$sourceSubscriptionId='yourSourceSubscriptionId'

#Provide the name of your resource group where snapshot exists
$sourceResourceGroupName='yourResourceGroupName'

#Provide the name of the snapshot
$snapshotName='yourSnapshotName'

#Set the context to the subscription Id where snapshot exists
Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionId $sourceSubscriptionId

#Get the source snapshot
$snapshot= Get-AzSnapshot -ResourceGroupName $sourceResourceGroupName -Name $snapshotName

#Provide the subscription Id of the subscription where snapshot will be copied to
#If snapshot is copied to the same subscription then you can skip this step
$targetSubscriptionId='yourTargetSubscriptionId'

#Name of the resource group where snapshot will be copied to
$targetResourceGroupName='yourTargetResourceGroupName'

#Set the context to the subscription Id where snapshot will be copied to
#If snapshot is copied to the same subscription then you can skip this step
Select-AzSubscription -SubscriptionId $targetSubscriptionId

#We recommend you to store your snapshots in Standard storage to reduce cost. Please use Standard_ZRS in regions where zone redundant storage (ZRS) is available, otherwise use Standard_LRS
#Please check out the availability of ZRS here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/Az.Storage/common/storage-redundancy-zrs#support-coverage-and-regional-availability
$snapshotConfig = New-AzSnapshotConfig -SourceResourceId $snapshot.Id -Location $snapshot.Location -CreateOption Copy -SkuName Standard_LRS

#Create a new snapshot in the target subscription and resource group
New-AzSnapshot -Snapshot $snapshotConfig -SnapshotName $snapshotName -ResourceGroupName $targetResourceGroupName 

Script explanation

This script uses following commands to create a snapshot in the target subscription using the Id of the source snapshot. Each command in the table links to command specific documentation.

Command	Notes
New-AzSnapshotConfig	Creates snapshot configuration that is used for snapshot creation. It includes the resource Id of the parent snapshot and location that is same as the parent snapshot.
New-AzSnapshot	Creates a snapshot using snapshot configuration, snapshot name, and resource group name passed as parameters.

Next steps

Create a virtual machine from a snapshot

For more information on the Azure PowerShell module, see Azure PowerShell documentation.

Additional virtual machine PowerShell script samples can be found in the Azure Windows VM documentation.